Star Wars: The Mandalorian Effect
by ARCCaptainFordo
Summary: Sequel to Jango: A Survivor's Tale. When Jango turns the GAR into an extension of the Mandalorian clans and the Republic as another client, how will the flurry of plans that are set into motion affect the Clone Wars and the Republic as a whole? Will the Mandalorians once more lead the galaxy to victory? Or will the Dark Forces that lie in the shadows of bureaucracy triumph?
1. Chapter 1 - The Clone Wars

**Hello everyone, those who came here from my other story Jango: A Survivor's tale, this story talks about how Jango and the rest of the Mandalorians affected the Clone Wars. For those who are new to my stories, I want to state that you should probably read Jango: A Survivor's Tale before coming here. But for now, enjoy! **

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 1 – The Clone Wars

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

_One year ago_

"Void 1-2 to Void Aerial, Nyles do you copy?"

Nyles checked the controls, everything was responding correctly. "Read you loud and clear Helena!"

"Good, we need a damn gun run at this position, be advised, danger close."

Nyles checked his HUD as a new coordinate appeared on it. He warmed up the guns on his ship, a modified LAAT/i. He had plans to add a hyperdrive, new weapons and a shield, but that never happened, not for a while at least. Long after he finished this training program, that became a reality, among some of his other designs. Occasionally he began to wonder and at times convince himself that they were the true reasons for his promotion to Admiral.

He had gotten lucky, this program was for Republic Personnel to better integrate with one another and his instructor at the Academy had signed him up after he had passed with flying colors. Nyles knew that he wasn't anything special, he was just doing what any Mandalorian would do. Granted almost no Mandalorian in this day and age was a Naval Officer.

"Quad Laser Cannons active, warming up mass drivers." He could almost hear his teammate sigh.

Nyles could see the target now – a bunker. If he destroyed it, his team would win the session. Nyles lined up the target in his sights and fired. The bunker exploded and Nyles pulled up to avoid the debris and explosion. As he soared into the sky above he activated his COM "Whoo! That's how you get it done!"

He could hear his teammate's response on the other end, "I have to admit, that was a good run. Cutting it close weren't you?"

"That's me," he said, smiling under his flight helmet "Lieutenant Nyles Kote." Suddenly a warning light in his HUD caught his attention.

"WARNING! RIGHT REPULSOR BANK DAMAGED!" screamed the warning system. No, no , no, this couldn't be happening! He lowered the power on the left stabilizer to compensate, which leveled him out. In theory this would prevent the damaged repulsors from being strained, however looking at the readout, it was not working. Nyles watched as the power output slowly dropped until the entire ship began to lurch toward the right.

"Nyles, what the hell are you doing?" asked a worried Helena Deviss.

"Something's wrong!" he said, panicked.

"I can see that!" came the concerned response.

"Stabilizer's damaged, must've been the damn debris! I knew I should have reinforced them!"

"No time for that! Can you set it down?"

"That I can," he said, turning it around toward a clear stretch of land amongst the wooded live fire course.

"Bring her in nice and gentle, I'll get the General on the line."

"Writing me off before I even land this thing Deviss?"

"Come on Nyles, just do your job and…" there was a perceptible pause on the other end "and let me do mine." Nyles brought the gunship low and began drawing back on the throttle when the whole ship suddenly dropped, causing it to skid along the ground. He reached for the escape pod controls when he was bumped violently to the right and a solid impact sent his world descending into darkness.

_Present Time_

Nyles looked at the Separatist Blockade of the planet in front of him, at the Venator-class Star Destroyer under attack by six Munificent Frigates. His ship was the only other Republic ship in the system, and his transponder was blatantly declaring it as well. Yet the crew of the Venator felt some need to contact him and demand that he identify himself. Well, he partially didn't blame him, and the Venator's shield was still up, so they were not desperate enough to take his help unquestioningly.

"_Resolute, _this is Admiral Kote of the _Liberty_. We are here to assist with breaching of the blockade and delivery of reinforcements to Generals Skywalker and Kenobi."

The reply that came in over the bridge speakers belied the slight surprise in his voice, "Admiral Nyles Kote? So they sent in the experimental fleet itself, please transmit your targets before firing." The voice was of the commander of the ship, Admiral Yualaren. He turned to his second in command, "Blade, target the leading Munificent with Disruptors and hit the ones behind it with our ion cannons. Finish them off with the Baradium missiles."

Blade saluted him, his gauntleted hand barely making a noise as it collided with his helmet. "Yes sir, passing targets to _Resolute_." Blade was one of those rare troopers in the GAR, an ARC Trooper by training, his piloting skills were so unique that he was sent through Naval Academy by Jango Fett himself who had said that he hated to see talent squandered. As with most Mandalorians Blade felt quite at ease with wearing his ARC Trooper armor on the bridge.

Nyles watched as the purple disruptor bolts streamed out of the gun turrets on the ship that turned to face their targets. A stark contrast to the dark void of space, the bolts hit their targets with brutal results. The already weakened shields on the Munificent on their starboard side dropped, bits of metal flew off and he watched as the points of impact created by the release of energy began to slowly widen as the disruptors ate through the armor.

It was brutal, but as he had explained to Naval Command, when fighting an enemy whose army was made up of merciless synthetics, it was a not a luxury, it was a necessity. The ship was torn apart as gun turrets continued to put the ship out of action, disabling its main batteries, its engines, its shield generators and now its secondary weapon systems. It was at this point that the Separatist ship exploded in a brilliant orange display of Hypermatter fuel and debris.

He then watched as the Munificent on the port side suffered the same fate. The crew cheered, "Primary targets destroyed Admiral Kote, acquiring secondary targets. Warming up ion cannons, removing missile safeties."

He nodded, "Good, recharge fore disruptor array, get me Kyr'galaar squadron."

Another crewman nodded, "Sir!"

"Kyr'galaar lead here Admiral, what can I do for you?"

"We have two remaining Separatist Munificents left, I want this done on a shorter timescale than normal."

"Sir yes, sir. Kyr'galaar can handle it."

"I know you can, do me proud. I sending Blackout Squadron to cover you." He was soon watching Neutralizer bombers escorted by angular arrow shaped Void star fighters streak through space toward the latter two Munificent Frigates. The Frigates formerly in the middle were struck by ghostly pale ion bolts, their shields dropping and engines stopping, electricity arcing over their hulls. While a single Octuple Heavy Ion cannon would not be enough to do so, several of them were more than enough to cripple the Separatist Frigates.

Nyles then watched as the missiles streaked toward the crippled Frigates like Direcats moving in on an injured Nerf. Explosions mushroomed all over the ship, causing parts to fly off. Weapons, and in one ship's case even the wing like structures. "Take us in, when we're in range with the Lucrehulk, fire every broadside weapon, Plasma Hybrid Accelerators, Multiple Particle Accelerators, Disruptors, Ion Cannons and Missiles."

A series of affirmative responses resounded throughout the bridge and Nyles watched from his station as the ship accelerated toward the Lucrehulk Control ship, the final ship in the once formidable Separatist Blockade. Just then a message came in from the Resolute, "I appreciate the support Admiral, however it seems that the Generals have run into some problems. They would require assistance urgently." Nyles could see the _Resolute _blasting away at the damaged Frigates with all eight of its Heavy Turbolaser at full output. The skeletal structure of both ships all that remained, armor plating all but completely stripped away and their reactors seconds away from going critical.

He turned to Blade, "Blade, get my General Yoda. Tell him it's time. Execute ground assault protocols, deploy the gunships." Blade saluted and was about to leave the bridge when the doors opened to reveal the Grand Master of the Jedi Order himself.

"Breached the blockade have you Admiral?"

"Yes Master Yoda, the blockade has been breached and we are mopping up the last of the Separatist forces."

"Good, good. Need a transport I will."

"Commander Blade will escort you to the Hangar Bay Master Yoda." With that Blade and the Jedi Master left the bridge.

A crewman turned to him, "We're in position sir."

He nodded, "Good, pass firing solutions to the _Resolute_."

The crewman nodded and turned back toward his terminal "Yes sir." He watched as every weapon on the holographic display of the ship turned to the starboard position and began to fire. Purple Disruptor bolts, yellow Multiple Particle Accelerator rounds, blue Laser Electromagnetic Plasma Hybrid Cannons, pale blue Ion bolts and missiles whose exhaust contrails a stark contrast to the void of space streaked toward the Lucrehulk which only just began to orient its Turbolasers at the attacking Republic Battleship.

Nyles looked at the readout of his ship's systems, with every weapon shield mitigation had seriously taken a dip. He would have to kill it first, which wouldn't be too hard, all his attacks were aimed for the command bridge. Of course, this didn't mean that the droid army below would shut down, the new droids were vast improvements over the original droid army of the Trade Federation that attacked Naboo. Nyles saw several deadly red bolts flying at his ship in a box formation of four bolts each, as fired by the Quad Turbolaser Cannons on the Lucrehulk.

As the bolts impacted harmlessly against the shield, Nyles knew that this would all be useless unless they could insert ground forces to assist Generals Kenobi and Skywalker. He hoped that his troops could get there in time, and accomplish their mission. But he trusted them, after all, they were Mando'ade.

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

Sharp looked around the MAAT/SOH gunship that he was currently seated in. A large part of him didn't want to be a part of this 'experimental' unit, he didn't need fancy equipment, just reliable equipment. But Admiral Nyles was a good officer, and General Fett himself had vouched for him. It was really the only reason he hadn't requested a transfer. ARC Squad 14 were made up of the few Null-class Advanced Reconnaissance Commandos that the Kaminoans had considered 'successful'. When they first came to the Christophsis system, he had wondered what the reason was, but seeing the amount of forces that the Separatists had deployed removed that impression. Besides, he understood exactly why Republic Command had deployed them here, to see if all the credits that they had spent were worth it.

Looking at the rifle in his had he smirked, DX-16 Disruptor Rifle, he had no idea how that Admiral got GAR Command to sign off on it, but he did. The new armor, the new weapons, the new vehicles, this could end well, very well. Looking around the gunship he could see his squad, several members of the Shadow Regiment's Command team. Shadow Regiment was more commonly known as Shadow Company, they earned their fame early on during the war, particularly during the Battle of Jabiim. Of course, back then they were still a company. They were one of the only companies to evacuate Jabiim alive. Captain Razor of Shadow, would never forget Skywalker, and to this day believed that he owed his life to him.

In reality it was under his command but he left it in the hands of the very capable Captain Razor, he preferred to lead his squad into battle, tearing apart the enemy the way only an ARC Trooper could, multiplied for Null-ARCs.

Another Clone in the Gunship that he hadn't seen in the longest time was Alpha-17, one of the many ARCs to survive the battle of Kamino and the only Clone to ever stare down Count Dooku's personal assassin and live. Alpha was holding onto his Westar M5, a common rifle used by ARCs. Of course, since he wasn't attached to the 11th Experimental Corps, he didn't have access to the newer weapons. "Alright we are two minutes out from General Skywalker's location, rest of the Regiment is heading for General Kenobi."

He nodded, "Got it Talon, just being us in nice and quick. We'll blow that generator and get Skywalker and his Padawan quick. Deadeye, Flare, I want you to cover Data, Razor, Bev and I when we move to secure them. Alpha, you coming?"

Alpha, who had been silent throughout the ride spoke up, "Sure, save the kid's shebs and return the favor? Why not." Sharp smiled as he put his helmet back on, checking the seal. The gunship doors parted they saw Skywalker and his Padawan surrounded by Retail Caucus droids. The gunship's turret rotated so that its main armament of four Heavy Laser Plasma Hybrid Cannons were facing the droids. He saw Skywalker turn at the sound of the Gunship approaching and then motion for his Padawan to get down, wise move.

"This is Aurek 1-1 to all ground forces, airstrike inbound" announced Talon, his voice serious. The gunship shook and his helmet muffled the high pitched sound the guns emitted as they fired into the droids. The blue bolts tore through the droids, sending bits of droid all around Skywalker and his Padawan.

He got on the COM to Talon, their work here was almost done "Talon, set us down, I believe the General needs a lift." This comment elicited laughter from the troops, in his opinion one should laugh at one's own Commander whenever possible. The gunship set down and he Data, Razor, Bev and Alpha walked over to Skywalker "General Skywalker? Commander Sharp, Shadow Company. We're here to relieve you sir."

"It's good to see you Commander," he said as he and his Padawan began walking toward the gunship.

Alpha was standing a few feet away from the gunship, when he saw Skywalker near he spoke up "Well, look who's finally grown up."

"Alpha? Is that you?" replied a surprised but somewhat relieved Skywalker.

"In the flesh, who's this? I guess General Kenobi's not the only one with a kid following him around."

"Obi Wan doesn't have me following him around anymore."

"That why you're deployed with him?"

Skywalker frowned, shaking his finger at Alpha trying to think of a response but just shook his head and walked toward the Gunship. His Padawan walked over to Alpha, "You knew Master Skywalker when he was a Padawan?"

Alpha turned his head to the side slightly, and even though the rest of them were all on the gunship, Sharp did not want to ruin this golden moment. "Me? Absolutely, I would love to tell you all of the embarrassing stories I have of your Master, but we're keeping the others waiting" he said, gesturing toward the gunship. She nodded and Alpha turned around and began walking toward them.

"Does this mean you'll tell me all of the embarrassing stories?" she asked, jogging for a short moment to keep up with him.

Alpha stayed silent for a moment, as if in thought "Maybe."

Sharp could see a message from Blade – they had broken through the blockade. He smiled, guess that 4 kilometer long hunk of durasteel and advanced technology was well worth its cost. "General Skywalker, Admiral Kote has broken the blockade."

Skywalker nodded in appreciation, "Remind me to thank him, what of the _Resolute_?"

"Sir, the _Resolute _is intact, and you can thank him in person. Admiral Kote is on his way down. He should be there when we get back to General Kenobi's position."

"Obi Wan! Ahsoka, quick, blow the charges!" His Padawan nodded and hit the button on her detonator.

"Don't worry about him sir, the rest of the regiment will have already wiped out the droids by now."

"Regiment? I thought you were a company."

"My mistake General, force of habit. We only recently grew to regiment strength."

Skywalker nodded, "Speaking of embarrassing stories Ahsoka, I have to say. You're reckless, and you would never have made it as Obi Wan's Padawan."

Ahsoka's face dropped, "But you just might make it as mine."

Sharp could almost see Alpha rolling his eyes underneath his helmet, he unlike Tano had heard all about their times together.

"Great, another kid to babysit."

"So, Alpha, how have you been?"

"Fine, just fine. Been keeping what you said in mind when I trained the newer generation of Commanders."

"I know, I met Commander Cody."

"Ah, Cody, good man. A little by the book for my taste, but I would fight alongside him any time."

The gunship reached where the Republic Troops had placed three Heavy Artillery Cannons. It was a valid strategy and Sharp would have done the same. As the gunship touched down he saw three figures standing near a MAAT/H gunship: General Kenobi, General Yoda and Admiral Kote. Admiral Kote was in his armor, which was a suit of ARC Armor Mk II fitted for him. He had respect for the man, he stood around the bridge in armor with Beskar plates. He stepped out of the gunship and saluted, "Generals, Admiral, we have secured General Skywalker."

Admiral Kote nodded, "Good job Sharp, standby."

He nodded and stepped aside. He watched as Alpha, Skywalker and Tano walked toward the three officers. "Alpha! It's certainly nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too General, can't believe your Padawan is all grown up."

"Yes, he even has a Padawan of his own now."

"I saw. Well, should be interesting to be following you two around."

Skywalker cut in, "Speaking of which, what are you doing here Master Yoda?"

"Grave things are, kidnapped Jabba the Hutt's son has been. Retrieve him you will, Skywalker, from a Monastery in the Teth system."

"General Yoda, what about reports of a Separatist presence on Teth?" asked Admiral Kote. Sharp knew exactly what he was planning, he wanted to be there as well. After all, you couldn't trust the Jedi alone to deal with whatever the Separatists had there.

"Deal with the Separatist fleet, you will, Admiral. Secure the huttlet, Skywalker and his Padawan's job is."

Sharp shook his head, knowing Admiral Kote, they'd end up doing both missions. Oh well, if it was an easy job, it wouldn't be theirs. Besides, he wouldn't say no to wasting some droids, that was what he liked about the Admiral – he understood them.

As the Admiral stepped aboard their gunship and the one that brought him to the surface was occupied by several Shadow Regiment Clone Troopers. "Sharp, I know that look."

"Yes sir, can't trust the Jedi to get the job done?"

"No, can't trust the Jedi to not try something completely reckless. Sometimes, good old fashioned firepower gets things done. It worked for our ancestors, it will work for us."

"Worked to break the blockade."

"That, it did. Of course, we didn't show the Separatists all our cards. Arrow-1 and Arrow-2's Captain's did protest."

"What's the plan here Admiral?" he asked as the gunship doors closed behind them and he felt the craft lift into the air.

"Simple, wait for Skywalker to begin his assault. Then, we launch out own assault. When the Separatists reinforcements come knocking, I'll bring the _Liberty _in from the system's edge guns blazing" said Admiral Kote, putting on his helmet. At 26 the man had to be the youngest Admiral in the Republic Navy, but scores never lied, and neither did results. Of course, there was not a moment that he was not fighting off mistrust and spite from a cast majority of other GAR officers.

"Got it sir, superior firepower. Are Arrow-1 and Arrow-2 aiding the assault?"

"I'll send them in if you need them. Oh and Sharp?"

"Sir?"

"Please stop calling me sir, it just makes no sense. We're just vode."

Sharp raised his eyebrows, that was indeed surprising. He found it hard to reign in his disrespect for a large portion of the non-clone officers of the GAR, but with Nyles the man seemed to command respect, not with his presence but simply with the way he got things done. Quickly and efficiently, and he never expected you to do something that he was not perfectly willing if only unable to do himself.

"What do I call you then?"

"As long as you don't call me mongrel, I'm quite alright with any name."

He scoffed, understanding exactly what he was referring to. 'Mongrel' was a name that most clones had for the non-clone officers of the GAR that they did not respect. "That name never crossed my mind, well, maybe just once. The first time I met you, thought you were a real di'kut (idiot). Of course then we talked and that changed."

"Nyles will do Commander" he said, subtly reminding him to not push it.

**General Jango Fett**

"I still don't understand why we couldn't have taken a Republic diplomatic ship, or why I couldn't have taken my Star Fighter."

Jango sighed as he activated the ships' weapon systems, shields and communications systems as they exited Hyperspace "Because those two don't command as much respect as I do."

"Oh right, I figure you must already know him."

"Of course I do."

He brought the ship into the planet's atmosphere, "And why bring these two?"

"Ordo and Mereel ? To show Jabba that I'm not speaking as a bounty hunter, I'm speaking as Mand'alor."

"You think threatening him is going to work?"

"Threatening a Hutt is the only thing that works, besides, I have done this before. What would you have done Kenobi?"

"Come in alone and assure him that everything is okay."

Ordo scoffed, frankly he was inclined to agree "Wicar (figures). If you beg, you get treated like a dog. Or worse, put down like one. How's your duchess friend, did her passive-aggressive stance against the Death Watch help?"

"No, but I wanted to thank you."

"She threatened my sister and I, thank you is selling it a little short Kenobi." Obi Wan nodded "Forget it, we're here. I would tell you how this goes but you already know that, don't you Negotiator?" The Jedi smiled at the mention of his moniker.

Jango set the ship down in front of the Hutt's palace. He activated the ship's internal defense systems, anyone who wasn't Ordo, Mereel , Kenobi or him would be riddled with blaster bolts. The four of them walked into Jabba's palace, Ordo and Mereel with their rifles in their hands. As they entered a protocol droid tried to stop and talk to them but Jango literally pushed it out of the way and began walking to Jabba's throne room.

"What have you done?" asked a mortified Kenobi, reaching for his lightsaber.

"Relax, they remember me from a while back, that droid didn't." Kenobi raised his eyebrows, probably not even wanting to know what he had done to garner him that kind of a reputation. They stepped into Jabba's throne room.

"Jango Fett," said the Hutt, the false bravado in his voice apparent.

"Jabba, we've located your boy, and we're moving in to go get him."

The protocol droid who they had left behind just caught up, "The mighty Jabba has only one request."

Jango resisted the temptation to shoot the droid, he understood Hutteese perfectly well "And what might that be?"

"That you bring back the slime who kidnapped his little punky muffin."

Kenobi almost snickered, "Punky?"

"If you do not succeed, Count Dooku and his droid army will."

It was Jango's turn to laugh now, "Somehow I very much doubt that, and there's no guarantee the slime ball kidnapper isn't going to be…disintegrated" he tapped the disruptor in his holster "we've upgraded. We're done here, Ordo, Mereel , go check the ship to see if we had any 'visitors'."

As they walked back to the ship, Kenobi turned to him "What if Anakin is in trouble?"

"Then Admiral Nyles will assist, in any case, you will head to the system as backup. Once they realize we have the huttlet, they're going to hit us with everything they've got."

**Captain "Alpha" Alpha-17**

Alpha was standing in the hangar bay of the Resolute listening to Ahsoka's story of their exploits at the shield generator on Christophsis. The clones of 501st's Torrent Company and their leader, Captain Rex, we're thoroughly enjoying them. He sighed, whatever happened to the old days when it was just him, the kid and Kenobi? Now Kenobi was gone and there was this spirited young Torguta. Did the Jedi even know what they were doing, throwing out their young before they had much training? Hadn't they learned from all the dead Padawan?

Clone cadets often learned on the job, but a dead cadet was useless. Likewise, he held the belief that a dead Padawan was often even more useless than a dead cadet – the harsh truth was that there were a lot more cadets. "Alpha's got some great stories too, don't you Alpha?" asked Ahsoka.

"I do, perhaps another time though."

"Oh come on Alpha, tell us" begged Ahsoka, some of the other clones looked interestedly at him.

"If we survive this, I'll tell all of you over some drinks and Bantha milk for the kid."

Skywalker walked in, "Alright men, what did I miss?"

Rex laughed as he remembered the story that Ahsoka had told them. "Is that true sir?"

"Well, most of it…We still got a job to do."

"Yes sir! You heard the General, move it!" said Rex as he and the rest of the 501st returned to their duties.

"Would this be a good time to teach you that a Jedi is humble, my young Padawan?"

"Sorry, just trying to keep the boys inspired is all."

Alpha shook his head, and put a hand on his shoulder before turning toward the gunships "And now you know that General Kenobi felt."

Soon they were on gunships, headed for the Teth Monastery, they were all looking at the hologram of General Kenobi "All right Anakin, listen closely, Jabba's only given us one planetary rotation to find the huttlet. Jango 'convinced' him to give us another, but he's not happy about it. If this alliance is to succeed I need you to bring him back in one."

"It's alright Master, that's plenty of time."

"Be careful, we still don't know who's behind the kidnapping." Alpha checked his Westar M5, especially the under barrel grenade launcher that it now sported. It threw the weight off a little, but the added firepower was more than welcome.

"Stay close to me, if you can" said Skywalker to his Padawan.

"I'll try not to get you killed."

"This isn't practice Ahsoka."

"I know, I know."

Suddenly the gunship shook, "Sir, we're taking heavy fire!"

"Close the blast shields Lieutenant, get us under those guns!"

Alpha watched the cabin dim as the light that was being let in was cut out by the blast shields. He turned to Skywalker, "Just like that time on Ohma-D'un."

Skywalker smiled, "Yeah, except I was flying back then."

He nodded, "I know, I feel so much safer now."

The gunship set down and they charged out, Alpha knew that firing up at them at this range was useless, as did the seasoned men of the Torrent Company who moved to the cover that the cliff face afforded them. As their backs were up against the walls, Ahsoka turned to Anakin, "So, this is where the fun begins."

"Race you to the top."

"I'll give you a head start"

He smiled, "See both of you there!" and he fired his gauntlet grappling hook upward, left hand holding his M5.

As he was ascending he saw one of their AT-TE's explode and fall below. Really, Skywalker was pushing their luck. He should have sent in the infantry first, then brought in the walkers. The AT-TEs were not exactly built for this, even though they could accomplish such a feat. He saw Ahsoka, get onto another one of the walkers which had just lost its gunner. He was about to conclude that it would keep her out of trouble, but he was wrong. Several STAPs flew at the walker, he raised his rifle and shot at the lead STAP, killing its pilot. The other STAPs however still managed to execute their attack run. The walker lost part of its foothold. Skywalker, seeing his Padawan in danger, moved to assist. Satisfied that things were under control he moved on.

"Rex, Alpha, follow me!" came Skywalker's orders.

"Yes sir!" and then less audibly, "I'll get on it."

"Calm down Captain, he doesn't expect you to get there any time soon. Just in time to save his shebs."

"It's just Rex Lieutenant, and thanks."

He saw the empty walker gunner seat and activated the latest addition to his armor – a Jetpack, landing in the seat and surprising Tano "Whoa! You can't just drop in on people like that!"

"Just did, now keep them off us." She nodded and the walker continued to ascend. Before long, they were level with the platform and he could see three Destroyer droids rolling in toward Skywalker.

"Blast it Ahsoka, I thought I told you to stay close to me."

He fired the cannon, blowing all three droids to bits "Can't get much closer Skyguy."

"I knew you'd get here Snips, eventually."

He stepped onto the platform, rifle in hand "Great, you have names for each other. But we have a job to do."

Alpha could see Torrent Company move around to secure the platform, Rex turned to Skywalker "All clear General."

"Good job Rex, have some men look after the wounded."

"Roger that sir. Gunships are holding at a safe distance."

"We should move them in, if there's a counter attack, air-support is more useful than an evac" he said.

Rex nodded "Of course, that's a brilliant idea. Your orders General?"

"Alpha is right" said Skywalker, nodding as if weighing his options. Rex nodded and got on the COM. He turned toward him "Too many droids here to be renegades, I sense Count Dooku's hand in this. Let's find Jabba's son and get out of here."

"No problem, the hard part's over."

"I wish you wouldn't say that."

He sighed, "Too late, now were in for a fight."

Ahsoka frowned and turned toward him "Why would you say that?"

"The only easy day, was yesterday."

They moved forward, entering the monastery. Rex and the others activated their flashlights, he simply changed the vision mode on his helmet to night vision. "I don't like this place, gives me the creeps." Frankly, he agreed with the trooper.

"This looks like one of those B'omarr monk monasteries that I read about in my studies at the temple."

"Smugglers take these monasteries over, turn them into their own personal retreats."

"And the monks just let them?"

You poor naïve thing, "Smugglers usually get what they want."

"Except when Separatists are involved, then they get their ship stolen for use as a bioweapon delivery system" he said, recalling their time on the Naboo moon.

"I feel like there's a story here," said Ahsoka.

"There is, but not a pleasant one, or one I want to remember."

Some noises and an approaching droid caught their attention, "Good guy or bad guy master?" He wished he could still see things that way, black and white, not just an endless sea of grey.

"Who are you?" demanded Skywalker, lightsaber drawn.

"Merely the humble caretaker all mighty sir."

"You have liberated me from those dreadful battle bots." That was strange, droids _never_ took prisoners, unless ordered by a wet commander. In that case, what worried him was the fact that they hadn't encountered the droid's commander yet.

"Where is the Hutt?"

"They kept their prisoners on the detention level, but it is very dangerous down there my friend, not the place for a servant girl."

Ahsoka seemed upset, "Do servant girls carry these?" she asked, brandishing her lightsaber. That was foolish, if he was a spy, having incorrect assumptions about their unit strength would better for them. "I'm a Jedi Knight," she received a glare from Skywalker "or soon will be."

"A thousand apologies, young one."

"Captain, we'll get Hutt. Stay here and keep your eyes open."

"Copy that General."

He took off after Skywalker, "Alpha stay here."

"If you think that's going to work on me then you and I have a lot more catching up to do than I thought." Skywalker nodded and beckoned him forward. They moved through the dungeon at a relaxed pace, much to his chagrin.

"Master, you know you're walking us into a trap."

"I know."

"We just past two more patrols."

"I know."

"Can we just do something about it?"

"If you insist." He took his cue, sliding several reverse polarity grenades backward. The grenades blew, frying the droids circuits. He reached for his helmet and removed it. Even in the low light of the dungeon, his scars from his time as a prisoner of Ventress were more than visible.

"What happened?"

"You're either going to have to get me very drunk, or be at my death bed to hear that story kid. Your master barely handled that one."

Skywalker opened a cell, "Well, here's our kidnapped Hutt. He's a lot younger than I thought he'd be."

"Aw, he's just a baby. Oh, he's so cute!"

Both he and Skywalker intoned the same sentence, "Just wait and see what he grows into be."

**General Jango Fett**

Jango was waiting in the shadows off Jabba's thrown room, waiting for someone he was sure would make an appearance. He certainly wasn't here for the great ambience. He couldn't do much about it here, but he could at least thwart whatever underhanded scheme he had. He had sent Kenobi off world in his own Star Fighter which he had sent for earlier, to throw the said person off.

"Mighty Jabba, I have uncovered information that says that the Jedi are behind your son's kidnapping" said the hooded figure.

He stepped out, as did Mereel and Ordo "Didn't I say that he'd come here and say that Jabba? How can you be sure that _he _wasn't behind the kidnapping?"

"Jango Fett, is the Republic resorted to hiring Bounty Hunters?"

"This hunter is the current Mand'alor, so you'd best be showing some respect Aruetii Darjetii" said Ordo, venom dripping from his every word.

"Like I said, kidnapping was never below you Dooku."

"You have no proof," he said, smiling underneath his helmet.

Dooku scowled, "Ah, but that I do." He pulled out a holorecorder and attempted to play whatever was on it. He bet Mereel was smiling, he had set up a bug to find and delete and data on a recording device that wasn't theirs or Jabba's.

Mereel spoke up, "Meg cuyir kayariatr ruug'la jag? (What's the matter old man?) Can't figure out how to use technology?" Dooku scowled and left the room.

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

"Blackout lead, checking in. Aurek 1-1, we've got your back."

"Roger that Blackout, scanners indicate heavy Starfighter presence. I can handle the shabuirs, but I need to make sure that General Skywalker can complete the objective."

"Talon, Sharp here, what do scanners indicate."

"Not good Sharp, droids have a landing craft, second one on its way. We need support, where there's a landing craft, there's a Munificent or Lucrehulk that dropped it off."

Another voice came in over his radio, "_Liberty _to all ground forces, we've engaged the Separatist fleet, can't risk and in-atmo jump but Arrow-1 and Arrow-2 are on their way!"

Talon cheered, "Alright! Cavalry's on its way. Blackout, keep those fighters off us. Aurek 1-8, 1-9, 1-10, 1-11, 1-12 take out that second lander. The rest of you, with me, we're going in." Sharp could see one of the gunships crashed in the same courtyard with the Torrent Company troops fighting off the droids. Their AT-TE was also badly damaged. He felt the gunship shake as the guns discharged, mowing down several droids. Through the view screen, he could see the troops cheering. The gunship swooped in low and the doors opened allowing him and the rest of ARC Squad 14 to exit, as well as pouring out Grey/Black armored Clone Special Operations troopers of Shadow regiment.

He fired at two droids before moving toward Alpha, "Where's Skywalker?"

"He's got the Hutt and he's headed for the rear landing pad."

"Rear landing pad? Damn, that area's too damn hot! Blackout lead, I need the rear landing pad secure! Skywalker needs an extraction from there!" He said as he directed Flare to suppress a group of droids with his Rotary Disruptor.

"I can try Sharp, the Seps have three squadrons here!"

"Are you okay? Can you hold out till the gunboats arrive?"

"Three to one? That's an even fight!" Sharp shook his head as he continued to cut down the droids, blowing up a Destroyer with his under barrel grenade launcher.

"Alpha, where's Rex?"

"I told him to get out of here with the General, that I'd hold them off."

"Well, you're lucky I got here when I did, because I just found a friend of yours" he said pointing at Ventress who was deftly dodging blaster fire and who managed to get under the blast doors before the trooper who saw her tried to close it.

"Well kriff!" exclaimed Alpha "General Skywalker, this is Alpha, Ventress has managed to slip in and is coming after you!"

"You sure?" came the unsure voice on the other end.

"I wouldn't forget that face if I tried."

**Captain Rex's Perspective**

Rex would have wanted to stay and fight alongside his men, but Alpha was right. The mission came first and as ranking officer it was his duty to see it through and theirs to buy them the time they so desperately needed. Of course, he was breathing a lot easier now that he heard that Republic Reinforcements had arrived, and that additional reinforcements I the form of General Kenobi and 212th were on their way.

They were now standing on the platform waiting for a pickup. He had his blasters aimed in the direction of the long hallway that loomed behind them. He could hear the conversation between Hawk and General Skywalker, "Hawk, we need a pickup!"

"Need around five minutes General, every other gunship is reassigned to CAS, we're barely holding them and the two gunboats we called in are dealing with a Seppy frigate in atmo. But scanners indicate a HWK-290 light freighter on a platform nearby. If you can get there, I can get some fighters to escort you to one of the Republic Ships in orbit."

Rex saw two Destroyer droids inbound to them, "Great, rolling death balls!" called out Ahsoka as she and General Skywalker deflected the bolts. He dived behind the wall and rained down shots at them before pulling a thermal detonator off his belt.

"Let me give you little housewarming gift clankers" he quipped as he lobbed it at them. The resulting explosion blew the droids into pieces.

Just then he saw Ventress walk toward them as the blast door closed in place. "That ought to hold her" just then two red lightsaber blades cut through the door "or not."

"I think now's a good time for a retreat."

"Retreat, that's a new word for you."

"Commander, General, now's not the time!" That was when he remembered the Jet Pack that Alpha gave him. He turned toward the General's droid, "Grab the General, I'll get the Commander and let's make for the platform!" It beeped the they both grabbed their assigned Jedi and jumped off the edge, narrowly avoiding getting shot by two waiting DSD-1s.

"Are you sure you got me?" asked Ahsoka as they headed in the direction of the landing platform.

"Please just shut up and let me fly."

As they neared the platform he lowered Ahsoka gently and then landed beside her. She looked at the ship, "We're taking this thing?"

"You gotta have some appreciation Snips, this thing is top of the line. I would get one if I could afford it. It's just been a while since someone has shown it some attention."

"Hey, it's that caretaker droid, I wondered what happened to him."

"Oh young one, I mean soon to be Jedi Knight, I had to get away from those battle bots." Rex ignored the conversation and got into the ship, someone had to prime the engines. As he was walking up the ramp, he saw several droids and opened fire killing all three and beckoning to Ahsoka and Skywalker when he heard the activation of a lightsaber.

Soon Skywalker had the ship in the air and weaving through the surrounding battle until three black arrow shaped craft surrounded them, "General Skywalker, Blackout 2-2, approach to the _Resolute _is too hot. We'll try and get you to the _Liberty _sir, Admiral Nyles is waiting. The three fighters spat blue bolts that he had read in a report once were some sort of Plasma Hybrid Lasers. They tore through the five approaching Vulture droids with ease.

"Roger that 2-2, just get us out of here. Ahsoka, see if you can find some medicine for that Hutt."

They flew past the atmosphere of the planet and out into the void of space. There they saw a huge ship like a huge elongated pyramid with gun mounts all over it. On the side was written "Rimargar" which Rex knew translated to _Liberty _in Basic. Rex felt at ease as they moved in toward the huge cavernous hanger bay on one side of the ship.

"General Skywalker, Admiral Kote, it's a fine job you've done. Relax and bring her in nice and easy, we'll get there."

"Thank you Admiral but what about the battle here?"

"General, this would all be useless if we don't get that Hutt to Tatooine."

"I understand, coming aboard."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Sir, General Skywalker's aboard."

"Good, prepare to jump to light speed."

**And that's that. All right, I know that Anakin's freighter was a G-9 Rigger, but I really hate that thing. So I thought that since the HWK-290 light freighter was in production at the time, why not give him that? It's a lot cooler and has far better scope to be modified by him. Please feel free to ask any questions. Till next time…**


	2. Chapter 2 - Malevolence

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 2 – Malevolence

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Which is why we are commissioning a Jedi Strike force to hunt down and destroy the Separatist ship" concluded Chancellor Palpatine.

One of the Republic 'experts' they had called in spoke up, "An ionic cannon capable of surprising and wiping out entire capital ship task forces would require a ship of unreasonable proportions. Something on the magnitude of at least eight kilometers in length."

Another one cut in, "Twelve."

"Seventeen," offered the third.

Nyles didn't understand how these people were so called experts? When was the last time they saw a modern starship? Nyles knew that ion weapons were something the Quarren people were quite capable in manufacturing. Given that Pammant was a Separatist world, it would not be foolish to assume that the Quarren had a hand in the new ship's creation, it was not foolish to assume that the plasma weapon could be broadside mounted, as to give the ship best angle to attack their targets. This would also greatly reduce length, giving the ship a smaller profile.

"Four" he said.

Everyone in the room turned toward him in surprise, "Four kilometers? Is this some sort of a joke Admiral."

"We would do wise to remember this starship would be a Heavy Cruiser or a Battleship sized craft, anything larger would require a support fleet and prevent it from acting on its own."

"You believe that a single warship did this?" asked one of the experts.

"It is likely. Despite the fact that a single Venator class is a match for most Separatist ships, let alone a fleet of them, the simple fact is that a disabled warship is no more a threat than an asteroid."

Chancellor Palpatine cleared his throat, "A single warship is no match for a fleet of cruisers led by a Jedi Master, Master Koon perhaps?" Did the di'kut understand that the Venator was technically a Carrier/Destroyer? He hated the fact that politicians thought that they could interfere in matters like this.

The Kel Dor Jedi Master stood up, "I will get under way immediately Chancellor."

"The _Liberty _will assist as well," he said moving to leave when the Chancellor stopped him.

"Come now Admiral Kote, there is no need for excessive force, I am sure that Master Koon can handle the matter on his own." Nyles shook his head and headed toward the landing bay to head back to the _Liberty _in any case. Even if he wasn't going anywhere, there was no chance of him staying any longer in the senate building with all of the stuffed shirt politicians.

He heard the voice of Jango Fett in his helmet, "How'd the meeting go?"

"Same old osik 'alor. Politicians and glorified monks should never be allowed to run a war."

"I did try Nyles" reminded Jango.

"I know 'alor, it just infuriates me is all."

"Well save the anger, your being attached to Skywalker for now. Turns out someone noted and I quote, 'How well they work together'."

"Great, and I thought things couldn't get worse."

"Of course they can't, you just have to stomach it." He sighed as he stepped into the Hangar Bay and toward his gunship. Sharp and his squad here waiting outside just where he left them when he arrived here.

"Get into any trouble Commander?" he asked as they stepped into the gunship.

"Does getting food count?" asked Sharp, the doors closing with a hiss behind him.

He nodded his head in understanding "No, I guess it does not."

"What happened to you Admiral, you look like someone pissed into your caf this morning" asked Sharp, taking a cue from his tone.

"Senate, Chancellor, Jedi, take your pick. Also, we're assigned to Skywalker."

"Rex, Alpha and the rest of Torrent Company are a pleasure to work alongside."

"As is Admiral Yualaren. But something about working with the poster boy of the Jedi puts me on edge."

"Nyles?" While most of the more Mandalorian Clones were not the biggest fans of the Jedi and neither were most clones in General, Sharp must've wondered why _he _had an issue with the Jedi.

"Did I ever tell you about my father Sharp?"

"No, you haven't."

"A while back, when we Mandalorians still had an army, General Fett and the rest of his men were ambushed on Galidraan. They had gone there to clear out some rebels under contract from the local Governor. The Death Watch told the Jedi that they were butchering women and children and they came in and attacked the camp. My father died fighting alongside Jango. The Jedi who killed my father is long dead, but the same Council that existed back then still largely exists today. That is why, I will never fully trust the Jedi."

"I don't know what to say."

"Don't be sorry for me Sharp, he died in the line of duty. There are times when I wish that he was there to see me today, but I know that he died believing in what we all believed, died making sure that the coward Death Watch can no longer taint the Mandalorian name. Died making sure Jango Fett lived. It's not that I don't trust Skywalker, it's just that I don't trust the council that he reports to. I actually quite respect the man, and also think he's somewhat crazy."

Nyles noticed his breathing get a little heavier, and soon corrected it. "Sir, I understand now."

"See to it," the beeping in his helmet signified that he had a message, "Oh, Skywalker wants to meet in his ship."

"That's interesting, are we invited or is it officers only."

"You know I don't care for that osik."

"Heh, that I do" Nyles could have sworn that he was smiling underneath his helmet. "Talon, Admiral wants us to take a little detour."

"Of course, where to sir?"

"Take us to the _Resolute_," he activated his COM unit "Blade, Nyles here. You're in charge till I get back."

"Going somewhere sir?"

"Going to see our Jedi friend, he probably wants to talk about something or the other."

"Have fun sir."

Nyles watched from the viewports as the gunship flew toward one of the many Venator class Star Destroyers in orbit over Coruscant. The MAAT/SOH gunship passed though the atmospheric containment shield in the main hanger, landing near a HWK-290 light freighter. He could see both Skywalker and his Padawan. The doors opened and he stepped out, he could see Skywalker's lightsaber on his waist and suddenly didn't feel like he was putting the Jedi on edge by continuing to have his Westar DX 12 Disruptor pistol secured to his waist. Incidentally they were the same pistols that Jango had.

"Ah, Admiral Kote, Commander Sharp. Nice to see you guys. I thought since we were going to be working together, we'd get to know one another."

"Fair enough Skywalker, what exactly did you have in mind?"

"So, Ahsoka and I found this ship on Teth and I cleaned her up best I could. But she's still a ways away from what I want her to be, thought you, Ahsoka, R2 and I could do that together. I heard you were a pretty good engineer."

Nyles looked at the HWK-290, it was a top of the line model, and really was not very old. He would have got one himself if he didn't have another ship in the works for himself. He smiled, it was something that he loved doing. He might as well, it was not this Jedi that killed his father, and then he could set straight what he considered a worthwhile risk, and what he considered down right crazy.

"I'll bring the Durasteel and the Disruptors," he liked Skywalker, but not enough to get him Beskar plating for his ship. Besides, Slave I was a patrol ship, this was a courier. It was built to be swift and agile. Skywalker smiled. His apprentice however seemed wary.

"Disruptors? I don't know master…"

"Calm down Commander Tano," he said turning toward her and taking off his helmet "it's perfectly legal." Soon the three of them with the help of whatever maintenance staff around were welding on new plating, installing the new navigation systems, calibrating the new communications suite and fitting the various weapons systems which consisted off: two Disruptor turrets - one underneath the cockpit and one on top of the hull, two dual Disruptor cannons in the 'wings' and a rotary Baradium missile launcher in the wings as well. The shield that they were installing was a Novaldex "Turtle" which was designed for supply ships to protect against pirate attacks and finally its already impressive speed was boosted by several ion accelerators.

He finished tightening the last bolt on the casing of the engine unit with his Hydrospanner, "All finished here Skywalker, start the engines!" He said, stepping off the wing and walking toward the entry hatch under the cockpit. He could hear the engines activate with a high pitched hum and then the lower pitched growl of the activated engines take their place. He then watched as the engines were deactivated and Skywalker walked down the ramp. "I have to say Admiral, you continue to impress me. Judging by your academy flight scores, I say that a friendly competition is in order."

"Amluteye (absolutely), we should get to it."

He saw Alpha and Rex walking up toward them, "That might have to wait sirs, so far there's been no response from General Koon."

"I'll get back to my ship and prepare to leave the system, call me if you need anything Skywalker."

Soon he was back on the bridge of the _Liberty_, awaiting the word to move out. However that was when the bridge Holocom beeped. He turned and walked toward it, Commander Blade at his side. Activating it he saw that it was from the Jedi council.

"As you are both aware, Master Koon's fleet has failed to check in and we are unable to contact them. However, all our battle groups are being reassigned to protect our supply convoys, including yours Skywalker. I'm afraid we can't risk any more ships on a rescue mission."

"What about a hunt? We could estimate his next target from General Koon's last transmission and next possible targets of interest."

"We don't have the ships to do that Admiral."

"If I may, the _Liberty_ is a Battleship, if we encounter the Separatist ship, we would stand a higher chance of destroying it."

"Of course, however what's to stop your ship from being disabled as well?"

"This ship was built to function with minimal power. It is able to run on power from its secondary reactor systems which would be safe from the effects of an Ion weapon."

The Chancellor nodded, "Of course, however, it is too great a risk. You will carry out your former orders Admiral, dismissed."

Nyles cut the COM as ordered to and clenched his fist. "Sir?" asked Blade.

"Hold position and wait for orders Blade."

"Sir, when was the last time you got some rest?"

Nyles was about to protest when he stumbled, "I see your point Blade, wake me when Skywalker gets back."

"Sir?"

"When you see the _Twilight _ leaving the _Resolute_, you'll know what I mean" he said right before the elevator doors closed. Nyles headed toward the officer's quarters, they were far more comfortable than they usually were and Clone Officers got their own as well. The General crew quarters were also a far cry above the old ones. To him, it was not enough that they were now paid to fight for the Republic, they needed to have conditions that made the pause between battles bearable. Nyles removed his armor and dropped into the bed in his bodysuit, drifting to sleep.

A voice brought him out of his sleep, he looked to his nightstand the Holoprojector on it displayed Commander Blade, "Sir, General Skywalker just got back into the system. He has recovered General Koon, Commander Wolffe and two of his men. "

"Thanks Blade, I'll get up onto the bridge."

Soon he was on the bridge when the bridge Holocommunicator went off. He walked over to it with Blade and activated it. "Admiral, the Senate is commissioning a strike force to hunt down the Separatist Battleship _Malevolence_. Naval Command is asking that you dispatch your bombers to assist" said the nondescript officer.

"Of course, I'll have Kyr'galaar ready their bombers."

"Thank you sir," said the officer as he cut the call. Of course, it wasn't a request, it was an order. But he didn't care, Kyr'galaar assisting improved the chance of any bomber squadron disabling the ship. It was ironic that among main weapons of a Republic Neutralizer-class bomber was heavy Ion Cannons.

He got on the COM to Kyr'galaar lead, "Adtr (Eagle, pronounced Ah-Deeh-ter I believe) , I need you to get Kyr'galaar and head to the _Resolute, _follow General Skywalker's orders. I'm sending Basilisk with you as well."

"Sir, Basilisk has MAAT/Gs, are you sure that's a good idea."

"I don't need your pride Adtr, I need you all back in one piece. You know as well as I do that the MAAT/Gs perform as well in space as they do in atmo and they can handle the Seppy fighters as well as contribute to the assault."

"Yes sir, I won't let you down."

**Captain Adtr, Kyr'galaar 1-1**

"Coming up on the _Resolute _now, Kyr'galaar, Basilisk, loosen formation and begin landing preparations." Adtr watched on his radio as the Starfighters of both squadrons streamed into the hangar bay in a line before finally setting down in the bay allotted to the 'Senate Commissioned Strike Force'. Adtr saw several BTL-B Y-wing Bombers parked behind their bombers. Both the Neutralizers that he and the rest of Kyr'galaar flew as well as these Y-wings were both still in the testing phase of their developmental cycle. Adtr could only assume that the battleship they were hunting was using the Republic Supply lines as its testing ground, an ironic situation indeed.

As he and the rest of Kyr'galaar stepped out of their bombers Basilisk flight's MAAT/Gs set down in the hangar as well. Walking toward them were three Jedi; a Torguta, General Koon and General Skywalker. "Adtr, it's good to have you. I take it the Admiral sent the extra firepower along," he said, gesturing to the MAAT/Gs whose pilots were just getting out of their ships.

"Yes sir, the gunships can provide cover against fighters as well as pull their weight when we assault the battleship sir."

"Of course, well you better get going otherwise you're going to get late for the briefing."

He nodded, walking toward some chairs that had been set in the bay and took a seat. Looking around he had to say, there was a large number of pilots which meant a sizable number of starfighters. This could either end with them severely crippling or destroying the Malevolence or being completely annihilated. "This strike force has been commissioned by the Senate, to hunt down the enemy's new Battleship. As the bulk of our fleets are engaged on the frontlines, we'll be on our own. General Skywalker has prepared our attack strategy."

"Thank you Admiral. While our capital ships are vulnerable to the enemy's ion attack," he said gesturing to the hologram of the ship "I believe a squad of bombers could outmaneuver the ion weapon and target the bridge and general Grievous. "

Adtr could hear one clone whispering to another, "The head clanker, Skywalker's getting pretty ambitious." Adtr had to agree, the bridge would likely be heavily fortified and they would likely stand a better chance.

"Our bombers will attack at high speed to avoid the enemy's ion weapon. We'll concentrate our firepower on the bridge superstructure," said Skywalker pointing it out on the hologram "we destroy Grievous, we can bring the war to a quicker end. Pilots, prepare your bombers."

As he was preparing to re-join the other pilots he stopped to listen to a conversation between Skywalker and the Koon, "Skywalker, this is an aggressive plan. Are you sure your squadron can complete the mission?"

"Let's ask them. Matchstick, you think your boys can pull it off?"

"Yes sir, there hasn't been a mission that Shadow Squadron couldn't complete" replied Matchstick.

"That's right, minimal casualties maximum effectiveness."

"What about you Adtr, Warthog?"

He turned to see the leader of Basilisk Squadron standing behind him, "Sir, we've got your back."

His Padawan smiled, "No fancy motto?"

" Naak adol tekare tracynsubr (Peace through superior firepower)."

"What does that mean?" she asked, crossing her hands.

"It means Peace through superior firepower."

"That's your motto?"

"No, not really" he admitted "but it does sound good."

She nodded. He turned to board his bomber, "What's the plan?" asked Warthog.

"Simple, follow Skywalker's lead and keep the clankers off our backs. When we hit the bridge, give it everything you've got."

He walked over to his bomber, as with all of the squadrons aboard the _Liberty_, his had a Mythosaur skull on the right wing and the Republic Insignia on the left. He stepped up the ladder in place into the open cockpit and waited for his gunner "Snap" which was in reality short for snap shot. From where his bomber was parked, he could hear a conversation between Admiral Yualaren and General Skywalker.

"Skywalker, the enemy warship was just attacked a convoy of medical transports near Rendellia."

"Medical Transports, only Grievous would attack clones that can't fight back!" Commander Tano was right, he was a hutuune and he would pay for it.

He got on the shared COM channel for the strike force "You boys hear that?"

Matchstick responded, "Yeah, and we're going to make him pay for doing to our vode."

He nodded, "That hutuune is going to pay, he's going to remember that when you attack someone when they're not prepared to fight back, then all bets are off."

"Damn right, let's finish prepping so we can get to kicking his shebs."

He smiled and got back to checking his bomber's systems when he heard the voice of Admiral Kote in his helmet, "Adtr, the next likely target for Grievous is going to be the Kalida Shoals Medical Centre, the _Liberty _is heading there but I need you to follow Skywalker so that we have a chance at pulling this off. Worst comes to worse, we'll move in and try to finish him off. I just got this ship Captain, I don't want to have to scrap it yet."

"I won't let you down sir."

"Udesii, just get the job done and come back for some Netra'gal."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Blade get us underway, get me the Kalida Shoals Medical Center." Blade nodded and the Holocom came to life showing General Kenobi and Admiral Yualaren.

"Nala Se? Admiral Kote, I take it General Kenobi and Admiral Yualaren have informed you of the situation?"

"Yes, they have."

"Good, the _Liberty_ is on its way as well. Our systems have been designed to be able to shut down and take a hit from an ion weapon. However…"

"However?"

"However there is a chance that the time a full systems startup takes will allow Grievous to bypass us and target the station. I will try my best, but no promises. Get them out of there, and quick."

"We will try Admiral, thank you." He nodded and cut the line.

"Blade, get us there as fast as you can."

"Working on it sir, we're working on it."

**Captain Adtr, Kyr'galaar 1-1**

Adtr eased the ship out of the hangar bay and out into the void. He watched as Shadow Squadron fell into formation behind Skywalker's Y-wing, then as Kyr'galaar behind his Neutralizer and Basilisk behind Warthog's MAAT/G. "Kyr'galaar, call in." He could hear his men calling in one by one and when they finished calling in he got on the COM to Skywalker "General Skywalker, Kyr'galaar Squadron is accounted for. "

He could hear Warthog check in as well, "Basilisk is locked, ready and awaiting your orders General."

"This is Admiral Yualaren, you're cleared for Hyperspace Jump. Good hunting."

He keyed his mike, "Oya! We make it through this vode and the drinks are on Admiral Nyles!"

Broadside responded, "I can already taste it."

He activated his Hyperdrive and watched as his ship accelerated to Hyperspace. Before long his ship exited Hyperspace in perfect formation with the other Squadrons and his own. "Okay, if we can just manage to navigate through my short cut, we'll be alright" said Skywalker.

"A nebula can be very unpredictable, I advise caution" returned General Koon.

"We can handle anything, right guys?"

He responded, "Anything except your excessive commenting Matchstick."

There were audible laughs of approval, until Commander Tano spoke "Does anyone care what the Padawan thinks?"

"Of course we do Snips, but we're still going through that Nebula."

A few minute of flying later and Matchstick broke it once more, "This soup is thick."

"Just keep your eyes on my thruster" said Skywalker.

"Don't have to, scanners are blind" returned his Padawan. Sometimes he wished they would keep the airwaves clear.

"This is old fashioned flying, have to feel your way through."

"Skywalker is right Ahsoka, clear your mind and you will see the path" said General Koon.

"I still can't _see_ anything" replied Commander Tano.

"I always know where I'm going," said Broadside.

"Oh yeah, and where's that Broadside?"

"I'm going to blow up that battleship."

"A clear path if there ever was one."

Much to his annoyance, Commander Tano broke the few moments of silence once more "So Skyguy, how did you know about this shortcut?"

"It's an old smuggler's route, they used to talk about it on Tatooine."

"Smuggler's route? That makes me feel better."

He cut in, "Commander Tano, smugglers are usually excellent pilots. They have to be to evade customs authorities."

Skywalker continued, "They call it, Balmorra Run."

Suddenly his scanner became awash with contacts. "It think I'm picking up a contact."

"Skywalker, listen to me, we need to turn around!" exclaimed General Koon.

"We can't not if we're going to catch Grievous."

"Another contact!" exclaimed Tano.

He knew what it could be, given the movement speed this had to be none other than a large space dwelling creature such as a Giant Nebray Mantas. "Kyr'galaar, activate sonic scramblers and prepare for attack. We might have Nebray Mantis' here."

Affirmative responses filtered through his radio. He got on the COM to Warthog, "Warthog, activate sonic scramblers."

"Nebray Mantis' here? That actually makes sense. For a second I was wondering why you would be worried about Mynocks but this makes more sense."

"I'm losing those contacts, something must've scared them off" came Tano's voice.

"You we're saying Master Plo? See, it was nothing." They soon came out of the Nebula when he noticed two incoming contacts coming out of hyperspace. One, he knew, the other? It matched the profile of the Separatist Battleship.

"Sir, picking up two contacts coming out of Hyperspace!" he said, informing Skywalker.

"Two contacts?"

"One is the _Liberty_, the other is the _Malevolence_!"

Before their eyes the Malevolence dropped out of Hyperspace. He watched as the Malevolence accelerated toward the Medical Station and turned its broadside toward the fleeing Medical Transports. He watched as the ship charged its Ion Pulse Cannon and fired. The Ion Wave continued forward, but right as it was about to hit the Medical Transports, it hit something else instead – the _Liberty. _

"Admiral Kote, this is Adtr, do you copy?"

"I copy, we're switching the systems back on, Ion surge routed to non-critical systems! We might need some time, proceed with Skywalker's plan Captain. Kill that hutuune."

"We've got fighters inbound!" called out Commander Tano.

"Snap, keep them off us. Kyr'galaar, remove safeties on Baradium Ordinance, arm Ion Cannons." Weakening the shields would go a long way and would draw power from other systems. That Ion Pulse Cannon couldn't be economical. "Warthog, keep those fighters off us!" He heard a chorus of affirmative responses and watched as missiles streaked out from the MAAT/Gs striking targets all over and blowing them to pieces. As they approached the ship, he watched as all of the gun turrets turned to track them, this was going to hurt.

"Warthog, we need those Y-wings intact."

"I copy that Adtr, Basilisk, let's soak up some of those Turbolasers!"

They kept moving toward the bridge until he heard the voice of one of the pilots from Basilisk flight, "Shields failing, can't hold on – argh!" the radio was filled with static.

"General Skywalker, this isn't going to work!"

"Master, this isn't going to work!"

"WE can make it Ahsoka, just hold on."

"Sir, even if we hit the bridge, that Ion blast will still hit the station! The resulting power surge could cause some serious problems!"

"If we damage the weapon, it would overload if Grievous tries to fire it!"

Admiral Kote cut in, "Then once he's crippled, we could move in and finish him off, with the _Liberty _ drawing off whatever weapons he can still fire."

"All right boys, new target. We're taking out the starboard Ion Cannon." The entire formation banked around the control bridge and headed in the direction of the Ion Cannon. The Y-wings dove first, sending twelve proton torpedoes into the weapon, followed by several Ion Cannon blasts and twenty four Baradium torpedoes as well as forty eight Baradium missiles from the MAAT/Gs. As he flew away from the ship before the weapon could ever fire he saw it start to fall to pieces before finally exploding followed by the cannon on the other side. Several explosions rocked the ship and he watched with a smile on his face as he saw the _Liberty _move in.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Sir, their shields are down!"

"Open fire, Disruptors, Plasma cannons, Missiles, MPACs. Hit them with everything we've got! Send Arrow 1 through 3 into the void." Nyles knew that even though that armor was tough, his Disruptors would eat though it allowing other weapons to have a greater effect."

"Sir, three Venator's coming out of Hyperspace."

"Good, hail them and pass firing solutions. Let's kill this chaakar and teach the Separatists that no one messes with the Republic or the Mandalorians."

**Well that's it for now, you can guess what happens. Grievous escapes in his starfighter and the combined firepower wastes the Malevolence until it's nothing but a pile of junk. Senator Amidala arrives I system but all she sees is a burning wreck. Till next time…**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Best Laid Plans

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 3 – The Best Laid Plans

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Admiral, their main sublight engines are failing!" called out a crewman.

"Good press the assault, what's their hull integrity?"

"Sir their armor plating integrity is at 60% and dropping fast, overall hull integrity just over 70%." Nyles looked at the data readout overlaid over a holographic image of the ship. Their engines were down, which allowed the three Venators to catch up. The oversized engines on the _Liberty _and its initial proximity to the ship when it was crippled by the bomber strike meant that they were keeping up with ease.

His corvette sized Arrow-class gunboats were doing a good job of keeping repair crews from being efficient. Constant barrage of the _Malevolence_ by the three gunboats and his Battleship as well the three Venators meant that it would eventually fall. He had to give to the designers of the ship, granted that being a battleship it was designed to take and dish out a lot of damage but this ship was surprisingly resilient. He couldn't even begin to imagine what the Republic would have done without the disruptors to reduce the integrity of the armor.

"Arm missiles and MPACs, fire when ready." The armor weakened by Disruptors and Hybrid Plasma Cannons would be susceptible to the heavy kinetic and energy based damage of the particle accelerators and the explosions caused by the missiles. The Turbolasers being fired by Venators were still too far out of range to be accurate enough, but now they were tearing chunks of metal off the ship as well.

He watched as his MPAC turrets fired at the ship tearing chunks of weakened plating off of the ship, exposing the skeletal structure underneath. The next barrage of missiles causing hull breaches that would occasionally send droids out into the void of space. The Turbolasers impacts now becoming more frequent, started taking entire chunks off of the structure, any moment now this once mighty ship was going to disintegrate.

"Sir, enemy ship has sustained heavy damage but we've detected a single modified Belbaub-22 Strike Bomber leaving the hangar, under heavy Vulture droid escort" informed Blade.

A modified Belbaub-22, there were few users of that model amongst the Separatists and the only ship what would require an escort of that size…Grievous! "All fighters, check in, we have General Grievous attempting to flee the area, repeat, General Grievous sighted!"

"This is Blackout 1-1, we're engaging." He watched as a sizable portion of the escort turned around to engage his squadron. It made sense, the Vultures lacked a Hyperdrive, they were the diversion.

"_Liberty_ to all _Arrow _call signs, register inbound Belbaub-22 as priority target. Repeat, register priority target, its Grievous!" With the Arrow corvettes engaging him, there was little chance that he would slip away, however there was still a chance.

The Vulture droid starfighters all around Grievous began to disappear in explosions. However even with a squadron of Republic XF-20 Void starfighters closing in as well as an Arrow class gunboat the single Belbaub-22 managed to accelerate to Hyperspace. "Damn it, that slimy shabuir managed to escape."

The Holocom beeped and he turned around and walked toward it, "General Kenobi, General Skywalker, Admiral Yualaren."

"Admiral Kote, I see Grievous managed to escape. Don't worry, we'll find him."

"Not worried General, just that killing Grievous would have ended this war a lot quicker."

"I know, Anakin is upset as well. Good work you two, you've done all you can."

**Several Days Later**

**Lieutenant Alpha Alpha-17**

"You sure you don't want me coming Rex?"

"Relax Alpha, Cody and I've got this handled. Besides, inspections are _the _most boring things to have to go through, but they're important."

"Don't give me the same osik you give to the shinnies…"

"You see what I mean?"

"Yeah," he said pulling the power cell out of his rifle "just don't go and somehow manage to find General Grievous without me."

"Heh, you're the one more likely to do that. What with the fleet scouring every nearby system for him."

"Yeah, yeah I think I hear Cody calling." Rex shook his head and walked toward the Nu-class Attack Shuttle.

**Two galactic standard hours later**

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

Commander Sharp swore; he knew inspections took long and while he was grateful for having not been asked to go, Rex and Cody wouldn't take this long. He couldn't understand why General Skywalker and Kenobi kept dismissing the lack of a report from either Rex, or Cody as their lack of ability to work together, even if they had meant it as a joke. Even Alpha, who didn't voice his concern unless the situation was dire, was beginning to voice his concerns to the Generals. Alpha was now standing with Kenobi and Skywalker and arguing "General Kenobi, this is NOT normal; they shouldn't be out of communication this long!"

Skywalker turned to him "Relax Alpha, the All-Clear signal is still active, that means the base is still intact. Everything is fine…"

Alpha shook his head "General, that _is _what is worrying me, if they are out of communication and the All-Clear signal is still up, then the base may be compromised! I…"

The arrival of Admiral Nyles interrupted Alpha mid-sentence "The 'disappearance' of Captain Rex and Commander Cody is beginning to worry me. I recommend a small team check it out, just in case."

Kenobi looked at him "Do you have a team in mind Admiral?"

Nyles nodded "I'll be sending ARC Squad 14, but I'm sure Alpha wouldn't mind joining them if you have no need for him at the moment."

Anakin nodded "Very well, but I still think that there is nothing to worry about."

After watching all of this Commander Sharp stood up "Squad, move out, to the Hangar! Let's Lock and Load!"

Lieutenant Talon brought the Gunship out of Hyperspace. His MAAT/SOH was one of the first Gunships to be fitted with a Hyperdrive. But what greeted them was not a planet with a single Republic ship for protection, but instead an entire separatist fleet. He quickly activated the cloaking systems in hope that they had not seen them yet. He then opened up communication to Commander Sharp in the troop bay "Commander, you might want to see this, passing it to the view screen now."

The voice in his helmet cursed "Fierfek, have they seen us?"

Talon corrected him "I think since our shebs aren't on fire is testament to the fact that they haven't seen us yet."

Sharp answered "Yes, it is. Get the Admiral on the COM now!"

Talon attempted to open a line of communications to the _Liberty_ only for static to fill the line. Damn it, they were being jammed. He opened a line to Sharp again "Commander, we have a problem. The droids are actively jamming all outgoing transmissions."

There was a pause on the other end "Take us in, we'll find another way."

Talon flew the Gunship in to the single Republic Outpost on the moon, instead of an empty shuttle pad, he found a Separatist C-9979 Landing Craft sitting on it. What gave him hope however was, amongst a sea of red blaster bolts several blue bolts came from the base's entrance; there were survivors. He fired his entire payload of air-to-ground missiles at the Separatist Landing Craft, blowing it to shreds. He then swung the Gunship over the pad leftward, scattering the debris and calling out "It's mine now shabuir!" He then fired at the horde of droids, who now turned to engage him, but the main turret and the two wing turrets tore into their formations, leaving only charred droid chassis on the pad after a few minutes. He keyed the com again "Commander, LZ is clear, setting down. Get that all-clear signal down sir, so our fleet can get here and kick Grievous' shebs."

Commander Sharp stepped out of the Gunship with Data, Rain, Flare, Deadeye and Alpha behind him. He walked up to the Troopers that stood at the entrance. He could see Commander Cody and three other clones that he didn't know. "Cody, looks like you needed help."

Cody shook his head "How the hell did you know that we were under attack?"

Data interrupted "Simple, you guys were not answering any hails, and the All-Clear active at the same time? That's way too much of a coincidence."

Cody nodded "Get inside, we need to get that thing offline."

Before long they were assembled around a command console, Data sat at one of the chairs and was furiously typing in commands into the console. Echo leaned in "I tried all of the shutdown commands sir, they hardwired the transmitter to stay on." Data tapped a few more commands and the power cut out leaving only the emergency lighting. Data tapped Echo on the shoulder "Nice try rookie, but sometimes you have to know just how to work around a problem."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Admiral Kote stood on the bridge of his Liberty-class battleship, he was awaiting a word from his team, but then an alarm went off, his XO walked up to him "The All-Clear's been disabled, Sharp did it!"

Nyles smiled "Get me General Kenobi and Skywalker."

"Admiral Kote, I assume you have the same information we have?" asked Skywalker.

"That I do, guess our boys did it."

"Then let's not keep Grievous waiting."

He watched as one by one the three Venators and his Liberty-class accelerated to Hyperspace and the dark void of normal space was replaced with the blue hued background of Hyperspace. "Blade, warm up weapon systems, let's not give them a chance to escape."

"Sir," he said as he walked over to the crewman manning the weapons consoles to ensure the order's completion. "If I may Admiral, there is only one target of interest in this area. By negating the early warning capabilities of the Rishi moon base, Grievous would have been able to launch a surprise attack on Kamino."

"That all makes sense now, when will the Separatists learn that attacking Kamino will never end well for them?"

"I don't think that they'll ever learn sir." A short while later the fleet came out of Hyperspace and in front of them several Separatist Munificent Frigates. "Open fire, Ion Cannons on the rear line, Disruptors and Plasma Cannons on the forward line. Suppress Middle Line with a combination!"

"Sir! Commander Sharp reported in, excluding Captain Rex and Commander Cody there are only thee survivors" Blade looked at the floor as he finished his sentence.

"Three survivors? Shab, that's…that's unthinkable. Imagine what would happen if they made it to Kamino, Blade. Imagine what would happen if their surprise attack succeeded."

"It shocks me to the core sir, I can't even begin to think what would happen."

"Enemy fleet status?"

"Rear line of Munificents have lost their shields, two ships in the forward line have been destroyed, the rest are fleeing sir."

"They'll be back, they've committed to the attack now, they're not going to pull off."

"Sir, Aurek 1-1 is headed to_ Resolute_, the survivors are being inducted into the 501st. Would you like to go to the ceremony?"

"Of course, I would normally leave this kind of thing to General Fett, but he's taking some time off."

"The General does know how to make some pretty great speeches doesn't he?"

"That he does, maybe when this shabla war is over, you'll know him as Mand'alor."

"Of course Admiral," Nyles nodded and began heading for the Hangar Bay to find a pilot to take him over. He would normally fly himself but Naval Command always threw a fit when he did. He hit the elevator button and descended into the Hangar Bay. The elevator doors opened and he removed his helmet off of his belt and placed it over his head.

As he walked toward the usual gunship that he took if Talon was not there, the pilot saw him coming and snapped off a smart salute. "Where to Admiral Kote?"

"The _Resolute_, and make it quick please."

"Sir." He watched the doors close behind him and he felt the gunship take off. In a short few minutes they were landing again. The doors opened and waiting were Generals Kenobi and Skywalker.

"General Kenobi, Skywalker. I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here."

"While mostly out of touch with them, I remember certain Mandalorian traditions."

"We like to honor our dead and remind those that survive that they should make the most of it. Normally Jango makes these speeches, but I can't call him all the way for this, what kind of Mando'ade would I be if I did that?"

They watched as the gunship landed and the three survivors stepped out, along with the Captain Rex, Commander Cody and Squad 14. He stepped forward, "The three of you did well," he said stopping just short of them "your names please."

"CT-21-0408, sir!" said the one with the hand print on his chest plate, saluting.

"I don't want your designation vod, I want your name. You know what that word means?"

"It means brother, sir! The name's Echo, sir!"

"Good, we're getting somewhere. The rest of you?"

"Hevy, sir."

"Fives, reporting for duty Admiral."

"Good, as you were. My Jedi friends have something of a short ceremony planned. After that, so do I."

Soon the three troopers were standing at the head of a line of 501st Troopers, at the end the two Jedi, Captain Rex, Commander Cody , Squad 14 and he. Kenobi and Skywalker pinned medals on the armor of the three troopers "We thank you for your service, and we honor your comrades' sacrifice" said Kenobi.

"Your new unit is lucky to have you. I'd be proud to fight beside you anytime, anywhere." Both the Jedi bowed and the three troopers saluted in response. Following that they left. Rex stepped forward "Congratulations, you're not shinnies anymore."

Echo looked down, "With all due respect sir, we failed our mission."

Commander Cody took a step forward, "No, if it wasn't for you, the Republic wouldn't have learned from the Separatist invasion until it was too late."

"You showed me something today, you're exactly the kind of men I need in the 501st."

All three of them saluted, "Sir, yes sir!"

As they passed the line of troopers he stopped them, "Echo, Fives and Hevy, I wanted to congratulate you. I understand how hard it can be to lose a brother, we Mando'ade have a way of remembering and respecting our dead. Do you know of it?"

"No sir."

"I see, it goes like this Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum."

Echo frowned, "It ends with so you are eternal, right sir?"

"That is does, it translates to; I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal."

Fives nodded, "A way to remember the dead, Cutup, Droid Bait, Sarge."

Echo turned toward him, "Thank you Admiral."

"No, thank you. It's not easy to want to embrace your heritage at a time like this."

Echo nodded and with that the three clones walked toward their quarters.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Ah, Admiral how nice of you to join us" said Kenobi.

"What's this message you intercepted?" he replied.

"We are decrypting the audio now, sir" said a crewman.

The hologram was played and the speaker was undoubtedly none other than Assaj Ventress "The Clone planet of Kamino will be a dangerous target."

The next speaker was even more so, General Grievous "Just make sure you hold up your part of the mission. We must stop the production of clones if we are to win this war."

Skywalker spoke first, "Kamino."

Then a horrified Captain Rex "They're going to attack our home planet."

"The Separatists are taking quite the chance even considering this."

"With all due respect General, if someone comes to our home, they'd better be carrying a big blaster" said Captain Rex.

He agreed wholeheartedly, even if they were carrying a big blaster however, it wouldn't do them any good. "The first mistake they made is thinking they're attacking products, mistaking our vode for something akin to their droids will cost them dearly. No one messes with the Mandalorians, they've forgotten that Kamino is not only a cloning facility, it is also the current location of GAR Command. General Fett, all of the Cuvy'Dal and the second he hears about this just about every loyal Mando will be recalled to defend it."

"I agree with the Admiral sir, this is _personal_ for us clones."

"Of course, tell your troopers in the 501st and the 212th that they're going home."

Both troopers saluted "Yes sir!"

"I'll head back to my ship, get on the COM to General Fett and tell him what's coming. We have a little surprise planned."

Soon he was back on the _Liberty_ and in front of the Holocom, "Ah, Nyles, do what do I owe this pleasure?"

"The Separatists are planning to assault Kamino 'alor, we fended them off at Rishi and we have intercepted a message from Dooku's Assassin to Grievous."

"I knew they would try this again, remember the last time Nyles?"

"When I got the news in the academy I was horrified, but the Republic has learned since then. Nice of them to let us set up those orbital defense stations and the space-to-ground Hypervelocity Guns."

"Yes it was, what that battle taught me was that I was not the only one who knew how to tell a Jedi off, that Alpha…"

"You're not worried 'alor?"

"I had my suspicions before this conversation, I've called back our boys. They've been waiting for a chance to show that the Mandalorians are officially siding with the Republic. As if an army of clones based on me and led by me wasn't enough. Some people need it spelt out for them."

"I'm just glad they let you lead the army 'alor. Pity they didn't give us Naval Command as well."

"In their defense, that's not where our ''infamy' stems from. But rest assured, that's a reputation we'll soon have as well. I'll see you before the battle starts Nyles, join those Jedi when they come down to the surface."

"Yes 'alor."

**At Kamino**

"Coming out of Hyperspace in 3, 2, 1…" The ship returned to normal space in formation with the rest of Skywalker and Kenobi's battle group. He could see the two Orbital Defense Stations, two Golan Arms Golan III Space Defense NovaGun. The original Turbolasers were replaced with Quad Heavy Long Range Disruptor Cannons, while its original 24 Proton Torpedo Launchers and 15 Tractor Beam Projectors remained. This was not counting the several Republic _Venator-class_ Star Destroyers, _Acclamators_ and the four fully restored 1.4 Kilometer long _Kandosii _cruisers. While they used to be classified as dreadnaughts, they were little more than Heavy Cruisers in tonnage, but they still packed a huge punch 60 Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannons, 20 Heavy Plasma Hybrid Cannons, 20 Multi Particle Accelerator Cannons and 16 Super Heavy Baradium Missile Pods and to top it all off their armor consisted of Beskar plating.

"Blade turn us around, charge weapons and sound the general quarters alert. Start deploying our troops, send Basilisk down there to support them. Deploy Arrow 1 through 3. I'm going down to see General Fett so you're in charge till then."

Blade saluted him, "Sir!"

As he headed toward the elevator he heard the General Quarters alarm sounding, "All personnel man your station, repeat all personnel man your stations. This is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill." The crewmen on the bridge were scrambling to get to their stations and were calling out the status of the ship's various systems to Blade. The elevator soon descended to the Hangar deck and he stepped out and walked toward Aurek flight's station where ARC Squad 14 and the Shadow Regiment's command team were boarding a gunship.

Sharp detected his FOF tag in the area and stopped the gunship from taking off "Joining the ground pounders for once Nyles?"

"General Fett wanted to see me?"

"Boss man himself? Well, must be important."

"I suppose so, remember something Sharp…"

"What's that Admiral?"

"That when you fight here today, it's as much about defending this facility as it is about showing the rest of the galaxy what we Mando'ade are made of."

"It's the only thing we ever fight for Nyles, isn't that right vode?"

A series of cheers echoed out from inside the cabin of the gunship.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Being an Admiral meant that part of the defense fleet was under his command, "Shift target to the _Recusant _destroyer off your right bow, position…" A warning on his terminal distracted him, the power in his forward guns were dropping, someone was misallocating power "I want power to main weapons on full, reduce non-essential power! Blade finish that order!" Blade finished his order to the Venator in question. The Separatists were dropping like flies, there was no reason they should have been throwing themselves like this.

**Private Fives**

Fives sat in the cabin that he shared with Echo and Heavy. They had been through a lot lately, the death of Cutup and Droidbait as well as putting down a Commando Droid invasion with Commander Cody and Captain Rex, which was big enough. Then they received assistance from some of the legends of the GAR, including ARC trooper Alpha-17 himself. Fives was amazed to have met the clone that faced down Ventress and lived, the clone who talked back to Jedi, the clone who helped the Jedi save Kamino. When he had spoken to Alpha, all he had said that he was just following Jango's Orders. They had even got to meet a Null-Class ARC and live, not just one, but five. According to Fives, Commander Sharp and his fellow Nulls were pretty nice compared to what he had heard. Then again he hadn't met the ones under Kal Skirata, but he heard that Sergeant Skirata had only the Clones best interests in mind. All this was far too much for them to take in, but now formally members of the 501st, they were going to assist in what was sure to be the Second Battle of Kamino.

Fives looked at Echo "Hey Echo, who knew we'd end up in 501st eh?"

Echo smiled leaning back in his bunk "Not bad for a couple 'a shinnies."

Fives and Heavy both laughed "I always knew that we'd make to the frontlines!" Heavy proclaimed.

Echo spoke again "Yeah, but Hevy, if Commander Sharp's Squad and Alpha hadn't shown up, we might not be here. And if Commander Cody and Rex hadn't shown up then Kamino might not be there anymore. Plus that detonator wasn't working, and I'm sure that you would have tried to set it off manually."

Hevy chuckled "Heh, yeah. That sounds like me."

A voice then came over the speakers "All Ground Troops prepare to disembark. Repeat all Ground Troops, grab your gear and prepare to disembark."

Heavy put on his helmet and walked toward the door "Come on guys, we have a planet to defend."

Soon enough the 501st was assembled along with the 212th and the Garrison of Kamino. Fives could see in front of them stood Jango Fett himself, flanked by Kal Skirata and Walon Vau. Also up there was the Muunilinst 10, ARC Squad 12, Alpha and the "original" Null ARCs. Among the crowd of troopers he could see other figures in traditional Mandalorian armor. Jango addressed them "Vode, the Separatists think that they can come here and 'destroy' the Republic's army. But we are Mandalorians! We are no one's army; defending the Republic is simply another job! We're not huddled in one place—we span the galaxy. We need no lords or leaders—so you can't destroy our command. We can live without technology—so we can fight with our bare hands. We have no species or bloodline—so we can rebuild our ranks with others who want to join us. We're more than just a people or an army. We're a culture. We're an idea. And they can't kill ideas—but we can certainly kill them." Fives and every other trooper raised their weapons in the air, Fett knew how to stir up that Mandalorian spirit in them. He turned to them "Now, get out there and show them that we are made of Besuilik!"

Fives, Heavy and Echo were walking off when Commander Sharp stopped them "Domino squad, I need you at this chokepoint. Hold off the droids for as long as you can then pull back. We just need to slow them down, once their fleet is destroyed then we can mop them up. Also if you see either Grievous or Ventress, don't throw your lives away, run, we have Jedi and another surprise up our sleeves. Now move out!"

All three of them saluted "Sir, yes sir!" Fives ran through the corridor until they reached the position, Fives sighted through his Macro binoculars, he could see battle droids pouring out of Trident Assault Ships.

He turned to Echo "Hey Echo, want to bet I can blast more droids than you?"

Echo nodded "You're on! Loser buys drinks!" Fives sighted up the lead droid in the formation and pulled the trigger. The bolt hit the droid in the head. He fired another, so did Echo, and again, until finally the droids turned in their direction and advanced.

Just as they neared the range of Hevy's Z6 rotary cannon, he yelled out "Ambush suckers!" The Z-6 rotary cannon shredded the droids; out of the corner of his eye Fives could see a figure approaching, he had a hunched back and blue uniform; 99.

Fives yelled out to 99 "99, what are you doing here?"

99 limped toward them with a backpack "I thought that you could use these!" Just then Fives saw a squad of battle droids approaching; he picked up a grenade from the backpack that 99 had brought and threw it at them, blowing the droids up.

Echo then yelled out "There's too many of them!"

Hevy agreed begrudgingly "I hate to admit it, but Echo's right, there's too many droids."

Echo activated his wrist com as they retreated with 99 "Commander Sharp! The droids are overwhelming this position, we are pulling out!"

The voice on the other end came in on all their helmets "Roger that, cut back to the forward command center, General Ti reports heavy droid presence there. Stay sharp she says those aren't you're regular clankers." Fives knew that the main command center was impenetrable and the fact that even after this long they still hadn't managed to get past the forward Command Centre meant their invasion was basically over. The four clones ran toward the main corridor that took them to the main command center, until they saw the red glow of a lightsaber; Assaj Ventress. The Separatist Commander had just finished killing a Clone trooper and then she turned to them. Fives Echo and Heavy raised their weapons, but Fives knew that she would be able to kill at least one of them in the fighting.

Just then the air in front of him shimmered and then cleared to reveal two clone troopers standing in front of them, they looked just like an ARC Trooper, but their visors were red, they carried no weapons in their hands, though one had a sniper rifle on his back, they instead had large vibro blades coming out of their forearms. One of them turned to Fives and spoke "Go, we've got this." Fives and the others turned the other direction and ran, he looked back to see the two clones diving all round pushing Ventress backward; so that was Commander Sharp's surprise.

Soon Fives, Echo, Hevy, Commander Cody, Captain Rex, Alpha, 99 and the Clone Trainees had wiped out all the droids and were saved from General Grievous by the timely intervention of General Jusik and General Tur Mukaan. The Null ARC Ordo had commended them and stated that they were to report to General Fett for their commendation. Now Fives stood with Echo and Heavy in front of Jango Fett "You should be proud of yourselves, not only have you proved yourselves on the Rishi Moon, you have proven yourselves here; all other perimeter teams were pushed back far before you reported pulling back. I have talked with Taun We, she told me about something she discovered. Your growth jars were damaged, for some reason them standard trooper gene modification did not work, you are 100% me, the only other troopers that are like that are ARC troopers; Welcome to the team. Your training starts tomorrow."

**Commander Sharp, an hour earlier**

"Squad 14, hold position. Fordo, Havoc, status?"

"We've got that sucker in our sights" came Fordo's reply. This was the main entry into the city, so defending it with two ARC Trooper Teams was not unfeasible. He could see Fordo's men in position. The Muunilinst 10 were good, as were his team. But it was asking for trouble to let those droids keep their assault craft attached to the city. That was why he need some air support to take it out.

Sharp watched the clones in the hangar bay take aim, "Admiral, we've got _Trident-class_ assault ships attacking the city!"

"Basilisk is on its way to dislodge those chaakars, hold your position."

He watched as the blast doors were blown open as the troopers were about to fire he held his hand up to indicate that they should hold fire. Shadow Regiment was holding the droids elsewhere, and even though he would rather fight alongside them that would not be an effective use of their forces. The ship began deploying droids and he dropped his hand, signifying that they should open fire. The Aqua droids were dropped as fast as they were being deployed, they stood no chance.

He got on the COM to Razor, "Razor, how's Shadow?"

"Domino Squad managed to hold them off, we got here just in time. Rest of Shadow is holding one of the passages to the Forward Command Center, other just got attacked by droids. Domino is headed that way but part of Torrent Company, Alpha, Rex and Cody are en route as well. Another thing sir."

As he blasted more droids that came through the hole created by the _Trident-class_ he responded, "What's that?"

"They reported seeing Ventress in that location, I've sent the two Assassins Glaive and Scythe in that direction."

"Well that was surprisingly easy…" said Flare, lowering his weapon. Sharp scanned the hangar for more droids and he watched as the _Trident _assault vessel dislodged itself. From the hole that it created he could see the MAAT/Gs of Basilisk flight spraying at it.

"Sir, Glaive here, we pursued the assassin with some help from General Skywalker but she and General Grievous managed to escape, orders?"

"Return to the Command Centre, this battle is over."

"Yes sir." Their pathetic attempt of an invasion was basically over. He wondered what they had hoped to achieve with it, they should have brought a larger invasion force if they wanted to put Tipoca City out of commission. He dismissed it and waved his Squad over, the Second Battle of Kamino was over.

**That was that, any questions? Please PM if you have any or leave them in a review. As always I'm open to suggestions on how I can improve my work. Till next time…**


	4. Chapter 4 - Downfall of a Droid

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 4 – Downfall of a Droid

**Lieutenant Alpha Alpha-17**

Alpha stood next to Captain Rex while he manned the signal scanning station. Skywalker walked over once the scan was finished "We've checked their supply lines, there's nothing to indicate the presence of an enemy outpost."

"Wouldn't be a hidden outpost if we could find it that easily would it?" he asked.

"Isn't that the truth?" asked Rex, sighing.

"Master, I'm receiving a strange transmission, can't seem to make it out though. Boost the volume Goldie" said Commander Tano. The droid beeped and the transmission became more faint.

"No! You're losing it!" exclaimed General Skywalker. He walked up to the console and hit a button boosting the volume. An oddly familiar tone was produced. "That's R2!"

"Uh, that doesn't sound like R2."

"It's him, I could never forget that voice! Trace it Rex!"

"Sir!" said Rex.

"Great, It's one of those days" he said, knowing how stubborn Skywalker could get.

"Master our orders are to find the Separatist listening post!"

"Perhaps R2 is _at _the Separatist listening post, have you considered that?"

"We've got a lock on the signal sir" replied Rex.

"Great, prepare to jump to Hyperspace!" ordered Skywalker.

The pilot nodded, "Yes sir!"

"Hold on R2 old buddy, we're coming."

**Lieutenant Jaing Skirata**

"Lieutenants, we've got a Trando salvage ship inbound."

Prudii turned toward him "Trandos won't be here unless they have something important, something that they salvaged from a battle."

"That complicates things" he said.

"Tell me something I don't know ner vod."

"Glaive, find out what's on that ship that the seppies want so badly. Then we take it back and blow this station to hell."

**Lieutenant Alpha Alpha-17**

"Sir, the last transmission came from the moon's upper atmosphere. Directly ahead." The screen displayed a modified Lucrehulk core ship.

"That's a Separatist Battle sphere" concluded Skywalker.

"I'm picking up a lot of encrypted chatter" said Commander Tano.

"Contact Obi Wan," he turned toward the droid "Stubby, scramble secret code set 1477. I don't want that station to pick this up."

He shook his head, "I really don't like that droid."

Just then General Kenobi's image appeared on the Holocom, "Anakin?"

"Master, I believe we found your Separatist listening outpost."

"Excellent work, back off and wait. I'll send two mainline cruisers to help you finish it off."

"But R2" protested Ahsoka.

"We believe my droid R2 is on board. He's the one that led us here."

"Hmmm, this complicates things."

"Master we have an inbound commination! It's coming from the listening post!"

"Patch it though Ahsoka, we'll see what they have to say."

"General Skywalker I presume?" said the figure in Blue Trimmed ARC Trooper Armor.

"Yes? Identify yourself trooper."

"I was about Jedi, if you had given me a minute. I'm Lieutenant Jaing, Clone Intelligence. I want to say that's your droid they got here?"

"You found R2? Where is he?"

"Your droid is in a heavily fortified area of the station, there's not enough of us to disable to reactor and get your droid. That's where you come in."

"Obi Wan you hear that?"

"I do. Help the Lieutenant Anakin, but if things go wrong…I know how much you like that droid but you must do what has to be done. Obi Wan, out."

"All right Lieutenant, stand by. We're on our way."

Alpha grabbed his rifle and turned toward Skywalker, "Jain Skirata, one of Kal's boys."

"The Nulls? Oh that's just great."

"Easy there, just try not to piss him off and this'll all go fine. They're not a fan of Alpha ARCs either."

Anakin rolled his eyes, "That's just great."

They stepped into the cargo bay converted into a general purpose bay of the HWK-290 _Twilight. _General Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter was even stored in there. Alpha watched as Commander Tano prepped the droid. Rex took a step forward "We're bringing the droid?"

"We'll need Goldie to open security doors and access the ship's computers. Guess what? You get to carry him."

Rex shook his head, "That's just great."

Soon they were all standing a little distance away from the cargo ramp until Commander Tano ran toward and off the ramp "Follow me boys!" She was followed by Skywalker, Denal, Rex, him and the other members of the squad in that order. They soon landed and Rex turned toward the rest of the squad, "Next time, you're lugging this astromech around." The rest of the squad bust out into laughter.

He tapped Rex on the shoulder once he had put the droid down, "Realities of command Rex, realities of command." He watched as Skywalker cut a hole in the ship's hull. They dropped in and ahead of them he could see two droids and behind them, four shimmers.

"All this moisture is corroding my servos!" complained one droid.

"You should go up to level 8, get your head adjusted. Feels great!" suggested the other.

Both droids instantly lost their heads and the four shimmers decloaked revealing two Null ARCs and two Clone Assassins. One of the Assassins had his Vibroblade extended. The other one had a Disruptor Sniper Rifle in his hand "What took you guys so long?"

**Lieutenant Jaing Skirata**

"Jokes aside General Skywalker, what exactly do you have in mind?" he asked, checking the corridors that branched out from this point with his cut down Verpine Shatter Rifle. He was using a shorter barrel because a full sized Verpine Shatter Rifle would be unwieldy in the close quarters of a station. Additionally it was modified to fire a lot faster with half power. He didn't need to cause a hull breach, but he may need to put down several droids quickly and quietly.

"I'm going to take a look around the station, the rest of you find the reactor and let gravity do the rest" replied Skywalker.

"Not a good idea sir, it would be a tough job to go alone. While the rest of us could handle the reactor, I would advise that you take at least one of us with you. We know this station General, now is not the time for Jedi pride."

Skywalker paused as if thinking for a moment, "No, you're right lieutenant. You boys have probably been reconnoitering this station for a while now, I'd be a fool not to take your help. But how could I ask you to assist with a matter personal as this?"

Prudii cut in "We know that the droid's memory has never been wiped General, this isn't a personal matter. The security of everyone one of our brothers is at stake, not just your droid. My armor has a stealth coating that will last even after my active camouflage fails, I will come with you and we'll find your droid and save the day. No different from your regular Tuesday."

"Alright, I need to know your…"

Prudii cut him off "Null-5 Prudii Skirata at your service," he said pulling his gun off of his back "now, let's move." With that Prudii and Skywalker disappeared and they were left to open the door to the reactor chamber.

"Go ahead Goldie, make me proud."

"This should be good" said Captain Rex.

"I just really don't trust that droid, no droid is that incompetent" returned Alpha-17, one of the more…famous Alpha ARCs.

"For once I agree with the Alpha ARC," before he could continue his sentence, a pair of blast doors closed over the already ray shielded entrance to the reactor.

"Sir, we've got contacts coming in" said a wary Glaive.

"You can even hear them now!" said Sergeant Denal in a hushed tone. "I could always hotwire it sir."

"Might be a half decent idea" he said.

He could see Glaive charging forward, "Too late for that!" He charged the droid line and sliced two droids. Scythe raised his Disruptor Sniper Rifle and fire into another. He put down two with his Verpine Shatter Rifle and the Jedi another two. The troopers from Torrent Company managed to kill three droids together and he was about to forcibly remove the droid when more droids came up from behind them, these ones B2 Super Battle Droids.

"Reverse Polarity grenade out!" he called out and flung one at them. Droid Poppers were the scaled down version given to the general infantry. The grenade sent electricity arcing over the chassis' of the B2 Super Battledroids. He quickly restarted his suits sensors when he heard the clanging of heavy footfalls on the deck plating, turning around Jaing sighed. Standing in front of them was the leader of the Separatist Droid Army - General Grievous.

"They sent a child to destroy my station?" asked the cyborg as he drew and activated a lightsaber "The Republic must be running out of Jedi!"

Glaive and Scythe took a step forward, stepping in front of Ahsoka "General Fett sends his regards, and he wants you to know that he would never send a Jedi to do a Mandalorian's job."

"Ah, ah, ah. You clones are nothing more than flesh droids. When you watch me kill your Jedi, you'll beg for mercy!"

Scythe put away his rifle and scoffed as he extended his vibro blades "You'll have to get through us first!"

He laughed, "That can be arranged!"

Glaive, Scythe and Commander Tano ran and Grievous. He ducked under Tano's swing's but was forced back by Glaive's lunge. Scythe made a swipe for his arm but he activated another lightsaber. He turned around toward the remaining troopers, "They'll keep him busy, let's blow the reactor on this tin can and get out of here! Droid, open that blast door before I shoot your di'kutla processing unit out the other side of your chassis."

The droid stopped and Jaing could even tell that another patrol had been alerted, "I did warn you droid." He raised his rifle and before the Aruetii droid could do anything he fired, keeping his promise. He pulled the droid out when he felt a gauntleted hand on his.

"Look, I didn't like that droid any more than the next person but what was the need for that?" half accused Captain Rex

"That droid just alerted the next patrol, it's a shabla traitor!"

"Traitor? That droid? It all makes sense now" returned Alpha.

"Alright, alright. Just let me get to work and open these doors!"

**Lieutenant Null-5 Prudii Skirata**

"They should be right behind this door." The door opened and low and behold there were several Magna Guard droids carrying Skywalker's Astromech. He raised his rifle and fired several bursts of Disruptors into it, causing it to drop to the deck. He then saw several B2 Super Battledroids which he put down with a burst each.

The General ran toward the others exclaiming "R2!"

He watched as the door began to close, "General, the doors!" They both ran up to the door right as it closed in their faces. "Shab, we need to get these doors open!" he said, looking around for a console.

Skywalker stabbed it with his lightsaber and began cutting a hole in it, "I've got this." Once he cut a hole he kicked it in and they saw three very surprised Manga Guards facing them. "You have something that belongs to me." The droids dropped the Astromech and pulled out their electrostaffs.

He opened fire, dropping one of them. The other one charged at him and as he ducked underneath the blow he fired several bursts into it at point blank range. The droid dropped to the floor, smoke rising from where it had been shot. He turned and watched as Skywalker finished off both droids by removing its head and cleaving it in two respectively.

He turned around and watched as Skywalker's droid finished off one of the Magna Guards that Skywalker had cut in two. "Thanks R2." The droid beeped "It's great to see you too."

"General, we need to get out of here."

"Good point, did you bring a ship?"

"Yeah, he'll fit all of us too, but the more the merrier so why not?"

"Twilight, this is General Skywalker, rendezvous at the south landing bay immediately for evacuation."

"Mereel, bring the gunship around!"

"Who did you piss off now Prud'ika?" asked Mereel.

"Not the time Mereel, not the time."

"I'll get there before you do or your credits back." Prudii rolled his eyes.

"Gunship?" questioned Skywalker.

"Ours has a hyperdrive and a cloaking generator and a lot of other upgrades. Courtesy of the Admiral."

"Explains a lot" said Skywalker as they headed to the Hangar Bay. In the Hangar Bay both the _Twilight_ and their gunship were waiting. Just then Jaing, Rex, Alpha, Denal and the other clones ran in through the main entrance amidst heavy gunfire.

Jaing turned around, "Cover fire, keep those Clankers off them!" The Troopers opened fire and then he saw the two Clone Assassins and Ahsoka run through.

"Ahsoka!" said Skywalker meaning to lecture her when she cut him off.

"Not now Skyguy, run!" Skywalker turned and caught a glimpse of a large amount of droids.

"Okay, good idea!" Prudii watched Skywalker and the rest of the Troopers from Torrent Company run for their ship while he, Jaing, Glaive and Scythe boarded their gunship. As soon as both ships were out Jaing pulled out a detonator.

"Boom" was the only thing he said right before he hit the detonator, dropping Skytop station into the gas giant below. Prudii could have sworn that he saw a single Belbaub-22 leaving the station. It didn't matter, perhaps another time. For now, it was mission accomplished.

**Till next time…**


	5. Chapter 5 - The Cloak of Darkness

The Mandalorian Effect- Chapter 5: The Cloak of Darkness

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

For some reason the Senate Commandos had decided to use his ship as a secondary holding point, so as to not keep all their eggs in one basket. It made sense that the _Liberty_provide escort, while Gunray was aboard the _Venator_ class Star Destroyer of Jedi Master Luminara and Unduli that was filled with men of the 41st Elite, there was still a chance that things could go wrong. In a fleet engagement, a single _Venator_ would be almost useless.

He was supposed to await the arrival of the Senate Guard Captain, who was going to park their _Mu-class_ Shuttles in the Hangar Bay. But somehow Nyles had a bad feeling about this and he had sent Sharp and the rest of his squad to another part of the ship along with part of Shadow Regiment. Unfortunately Razor reciprocated those feelings, but he had to stay with him on the bridge. Even if something was wrong, he wasn't carrying his rifle. He had to at least make it appear to whoever was potentially trying to pull something off that their plan was going according to…well, plan.

Of course, there was the possibility that they were all paranoid for no apparent reason. But he knew that trusting his gut feeling was the right thing to do, and alerting the Jedi would only create a bigger mess than possible. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by shouts of "Droids!" He turned around pistol raised at the sight of the Commando Droids that stormed onto the bridge, well things were going according to plan at least. The patrols had avoided them, and were likely waiting for his signal. At the head of the droids was Duros Bounty Hunter Cad Bane. He was dragging with him, the restrained Captain of the contingent of Senate Guard.

"Admiral Nyles Kote, we meet at last. Have your men drop their weapons, now!" bellowed Bane.

"Or what, you'll shoot the Captain?" he asked.

Bane raised his Blaster to the Captain's head and scowled, "Precisely." Kote sighed and turned to Blade and then Razor, both of them nodded. _Alright Bane, let's see what exactly you plan to do when I call the rest of Shadow down on your shebs. I'll play along for now._

"All right, no one needs to die today, we'll drop our weapons." One by one every Republic Soldier and Naval officer on the bridge dropped their weapons, letting that clatter onto the floor uselessly.

"Excellent. Restrain them." Nyles felt his wrists being pulled in front of him and cuffed. "Hands on your head, I see anything funny and I shoot you all in the head." He complied and put his hands on his head. As he did so he hit a button on his wrist com, the signal was sent – the plan was in motion. Bane turned toward him, "The Separatists have a big bounty on you and the rest of your Mando friends Admiral, after this is over, maybe I give you to them."

"You'd have to go through us first!" said Razor.

"That can be arranged soldier boy."

"Let me out of these restraints and we'll see."

"You won't be the first clone I will have killed, nor will you be the last. You Mandalorians overestimate your abilities, did you think that I wouldn't be able to get past your pathetic troops?"

"An Aruetiise like you wouldn't understand…" He considered using his Vibro blade to free himself but he would just be hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered.

"Don't I? There's a reason I want your ship, see it my way, rogue Mandalorian Admiral attacks Jedi Cruiser, assists in escape of Viceroy Nute Gunray.

"I never figured you for a Separatist sympathizer Bane, besides, no one would believe of this."

"Won't they? The senate is full of fat useless politicians. And I'm not a sympathizer, they just pay me, very well I might add. You Mandalorians of all people should understand that."

"We already have a job."

"See where that has got you."

The Senate Commando turned toward him, "Sorry to get you into this mess sir."

"Don't worry about it, we're all brothers in arms here and now." He sound of weapons discharge on a mass scale at the entrance to the bridge made him get up and do something stupid. He got up and charged the Bounty Hunter. When the two of them hit the floor, his helmet flew off. He stood back up and they began circling each other.

"Ah, there we go. I was wondering when you'd do that. Can you guarantee I won't kill you before your men kill my droids?"

"With an arm tied behind my back Aruetii" he returned evenly. He delivered a vicious kick to Bane's midsection.

"You've got some fight in you, good," said Bane as he charged him after recovering from his kick, knife in hand. Nyles hand his cuffed hands up, blocking the blade with the metal cord that secured them together. Nyles knew that this wouldn't hold and kicked Bane, but that was when the cord snapped and the knife dropped onto his face. He screamed in response to the pain that seared through his face. He then felt a sudden burst of pain coming from his abdomen and looked down to see Bane's hand on a knife sticking out from a gap in his plating. "I'll be back for that knife."

The blood coming from his wound clouded the vision in one eye but even he could see the Bounty Hunter being chased off the bridge by Blade and Razor who had since freed themselves and got their weapons back. He saw Blade holding his blaster out to him, handle first. "Admiral, that looks like nasty wound. We need to get you to the med bay."

"Where's Bane?"

"Sharp's after him sir, he's probably going to try to flee in one of the Senate Commando Shuttles. We were set up sir, all of us."

"Someone had to," the pain became fiercer and he winced, "to get them those shuttles, we're looking at a traitor."

"Right, but on this ship sir?"

"No, amongst the Senate Guard…" he made to step forward when he stumbled.

Razor took a step toward him, "Sir, let me help you."

He nodded and Razor came over and supported him "Need to get control of the ship. Blade, do a systems check." Razor held him up while Blade walked over to the nearest console and began activating the systems.

"Welcome Admiral Kote, initializing systems check. Weapons Systems disabled, Shields disabled, Communications Disabled, Hyperdrive Disabled, systems check complete."

"What's not disabled?" he asked, the pain in his voice apparent.

"Sublight engines and maneuvering thrusters are fully functional. Reactor is online."

"That's good..." his voice trailed off and when he looked down he could see the amount of blood he'd lost. The grey-black armor had lines of what looked like crimson running down it, the floor on which he stood had a small steadily growing pool..

"That's it, I'm taking you to the med bay. This is Captain Razor, I need a medic here! Admiral Kote is badly wounded, I need a kriffing medic!" His vision slowly started to turn to black and he felt his body go limp. Was this the end?

**Commander Blade**

"Blade, what's the situation?"

"We've restored functionality to the ship, if they attacked us Sharp then they must be coming for Gunray."

"Where's the Admiral?"

"He's hurt bad Sharp…" he said swallowing, medics were pumping him with synthblood but that wound was deep, and the blade had barely missed his eye. He would survive no doubt, but he still wasn't in the greatest shape. That abdomen wound had barely scraped some of his organs, nothing they couldn't fix.

"Don't give me that osik, how is he?"

"He'll live."

"That's what I wanted to hear, send Arrow – 1 through 3 to watch General Unduli's ship, I'm taking half the Regiment with me, leave half here in case they come back.

"Leave us a company, take the rest and make sure that all of this osik is worth it. Sharp?"

"Yeah?"

"Did we lose anyone else?"

"We may just lose one too many, tell those medics…"

"He'll be fine ner vod." Sharp didn't even respond and simply put his helmet back on and walked out of the bridge.

Suddenly the Holocom lit up with General Unduli's image being displayed, "_Tranquility_to _Liberty,_we are under attack, please respond!"

"General Unduli, Commander Blade here. What's the situation?"

"Where's the Admiral, Commander? We've been trying to contact you!"

"Injured ma'am, Separatists attacked the ship in stolen Senate Guard Shuttles."

"Of course they did! Can you spare any men Commander?" Typical Jedi, they were either overflowing with faux sympathy or they completely lacked it.

"I've sent three gunboats and Commander Sharp and most of Shadow Regiment is on their way. What's the primary point of entry?"

"How did you? Never mind, they're entering through the Main Hangar, hurry Commander." He cut the COM line and opened another one to Sharp "Sharp, General Unduli's ship is being boarded!"

"I can see that, we're on our way."

"Get there quick Commander, if Gunray escapes…"

"Yeah, yeah leave the speeches to Nyles, Blade…"

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

"Coming up on the Hangar Bay Commander!" said Talon.

"Good, all gunships this is Commander Sharp, weapons free, tear the droids to pieces!" He knew the pilots wouldn't use explosives but they didn't have the time to disembark and wipe the droids out on foot. He felt the floor of the gunship shake and the high pitched whine of the gunship's main weapons enter his ears as they discharged.

A minute later he heard the cheers of the defenders, "Put the gunship down."

"Yes sir!" Sharp felt the gunship land and as the doors opened he watched as several more set down around his.

As Shadow Regiment Special Operations soldiers streamed out and secured the Hangar he turned toward the Trooper that seemed to be in charge, "Status report. Are there any other points of entry?"

"Negative Commander, thanks for the assist. I don't know how long we would have lasted on our own."

He nodded, "Where's Viceroy Gunray and the Jedi?"

"I don't know about where the Jedi are sir, but the Viceroy is in the Brig."

"Squad 14, with me, we're going to secure the Viceroy. Shadow, stay here and search this ship for any more droids or anything that looks remotely Separatist. I want this done quick and clean."

Razor saluted him, "Sir."

The clone that appeared to be in charge turned to him, "Sir, we can assist your men."

"Go ahead," he said as he turned around. "We'll go and check the Brig." As they were in the elevator heading toward the brig , suddenly the entire ship shook. "What the hell was that?"

"Sir, I'm patched into the ship's systems, they've damaged the main reactor, secondary reactor is coming online" informed Data.

"The only easy day was yesterday, eh vode?" he asked.

Data shook his head, "I remember yesterday being something like this too."

The elevator pinged to signify that it had reached its intended destination they ran out the elevator and saw Commander Gree on the deck, unconscious. He picked him up and slumped his against the wall before waking him up. "Where's Gunray?"

"Argyus, he's a traitor…he'll try to leave in the _Consular -class"_

"Blade, this is Sharp."

"Go ahead Sharp."

"There's a Consular-class retreating from the ship, stop it."

"How? You want it intact?"

"I'll take it either way, just stop that kriffing ship!"

"It's already started its acceleration to make the jump to light speed." A few tense moments later Blade's voice could be heard in his helmet again, "They got away!"

"That was Nute kriffing Gunray himself! Damn it!"

"There was no way any of our ships could have…."

"Don't take that osik with me, there was SOMETHING we could have done."

"There is NOTHING I could have done."

"That ship's FOF tag still registered friendly, we had to remove it from the system. By the time any of the weapons got online all we could do is drop their shields and hit their sublight engines."

"You had one job ner vod, one kriffing…"

Blade cut him off, "I'm NOT Admiral Kote! I can't pull amazing tactical maneuvers out of my kriffing shebs! Don't blame this on me Sharp, just don't. I have enough osik to deal with, I don't need yours."

Sharp nodded absentmindedly, even though Blade couldn't see it. He had no words, no words that would explain why he was so upset with his vod. It had barely been several months since they had started working with the Admiral, yet he could speak for most others on the _Liberty_ when he said that they were all finding it hard to deal with his convalescence, not matter how recent it was. That only meant that the pain that Nyles felt when Bane drove that knife through his abdomen, was still raw in all their minds. They were soldiers, and they saw vode give their lives on the battlefield many times, it didn't make it any easier when the possibility of another giving theirs was imminent.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Mandalorian Negotiator

The Mandalorian Effect : Chapter 6 – The Mandalorian Negotiator

**General Jango Fett**

Jango would be damned if he was going to let some di'kutla Senator and representative deliver the ransom to Hondo Ohnaka. After all, he had a history with that particular Weequay, and he was certain he could get him to hand over the Jedi and Dooku, for free. Hondo was one of those rare souls in the galaxy who knew just how foolish it was to underestimate a Mandalorian. He remembered the conversation with Palpatine and scoffed.

_Earlier that day_

The image of Kenobi and Skywalker dominated the Holocom, "No question they have Dooku. Send the ransom."

"He's being securely held?" asked the Chancellor.

"Yeah, and very cranky about it," scoffed Skywalker.

"Senator Karros and Representative Binks will be dispatched immediately." With that the call came to an end, leaving him standing with Ordo, A'den and Mereel. Jaing was off with Prudii delivering and analyzing the data with Republic Intelligence and some of their best Agents. One name leapt up at him when he saw the list; Agent Helena Deviss. He remembered that she had attended the training program that he had organized for GAR officers.

"General Fett, I suggest that you do not accompany the Senators," said Palpatine, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Why exactly is that Chancellor?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Your presence might sour the deal, as will the presence of these Commandos."

"My presence might be the only thing _keeping_this thing from going sour, Chancellor."

"You would do well to understand your place _General_."

Was this chaakar serious, a veiled threat? "As would you _Chancellor_. Remember, the Republic is just another client. I don't take orders from you."

The Chancellor smiled, "Of course General. Please, we have wasted enough time arguing. You must be on your way."

Jango rolled his eyes underneath his helmet, he really hated this di'kut. He turned and motioned for both Ordo, A'den and Mereel to follow him as well as Senator Karros and Representative Binks. They followed him to the landing bay in the Senate where a gray-black MAAT/SOH was waiting for them. Jango smiled, SOH expanded to Spec Ops Heavy. This meant that it had the firepower of the heavy variant but the agility and active camouflage of the Spec Ops variant. This particular gunship was the one used by the Nulls.

"Ah, there's my bird!" proclaimed Mereel, who then proudly stepped into the cockpit.

Ordo turned toward him, "Sorry about Mer'ika, 'Alor, he's just a little excited is all."

"Don't worry about it Ordo. Where's Commander Stone and his men?" Commander Stone, seemingly on hearing this walked over from the crates they were resting on.

"General Fett, sir! Commander Stone, reporting for duty!"

"Make sure Senator Karros and Representative Binks are seated and ready for takeoff. Captain Ordo, Sergeant A'den and I are going to check our equipment."

"You think the Pirates are going to try something General?"

"I think that they're Pirates and we should go in expecting them to."

"Of course sir," said Stone as he disappeared into the cabin.

"Ordo, A'den, I want you to make sure that we have enough power cells for a prolonged fight. Ordo, you're on Marksman/Sniper duty. A'den, keep it balanced. Mereel's going to be our pilot today, so I'm not concerned about him."

"He keeps a Z6 in the weapon cabinet 'Alor. I wouldn't be too worried about Mer'ika," said A'den.

"All right, then. Let's get this osik over with..."

_End Flashback_

"Good work. Senator Karros. I'm relieved you are about to arrive at the Pirate Stronghold safely. Captain Hondo, the leader of those brigands, will accept the ransom, and turn Count Dooku over to the Jedi."

Ordo's voice could be heard over the private COM, "That Senator just sat on his shebs and he gets the credit?"

Mereel cut in, "In his defense Ord'ika, you just sat on your shebs too. If anyone needs credit, it's me, I've been flying this thing."

"Once we have landed our signal will be strong enough to set up proper communications."

Jango keyed his COM, "Mereel, did you purposely drop the signal strength?"

"Of course General, we're in a pretty dangerous sector. Now I can handle pretty much anything, but bring in a corvette or a frigate and we're going to have some problems."

"Good job."

"All right, we are entering atmosphere, I suggest those not in their seats please amend that and we should all be fine."

Jango noticed that Karros and Binks were attempting to get into the seats next to him.

"The last time I went on one of these ransom missions, I spent three weeks in a dungeon," said Senator Karros to no one in particular. Commander Stone sighed and gave him a look. Jango really sympathized with the trooper. Stone was wondering who he pissed off to have to end up escorting dignitaries.

"Ease up Commander," Jango said. "I have a feeling that this mission will be more interesting than either of us are being led to believe."

"Part of me hopes it does sir," Stone agreed. "Part of me hopes it does."

"Combat is only so exhilarating because of the peace that punctuates it."

"Wow General, that's impressive…Did you come up with it?"

"No some useless chaakar with nothing better to do did. I just stole his line."

Commander Stone laughed and took his seat across from him, next to Ordo, who was checking his Verpine Shatter Rifle, his DX-16 Disruptor Rifle leaning against his seat.

"That's a nice rifle Captain Ordo."

"Thanks."

"Drop some clankers with it?"

"Not enough."

"Of course. I have to say…"

"You always talk this much Commander?"

"It's just an honor to be working with one of the Null-ARCs."

"We're all just brothers, there's no need for any of the hero worship osik."

"Of course, one man army, but the right man for the job."

"Oya."

Jango turned his attention to the Binks, who was still struggling with his seat. "Representative Binks, stop fooling around, we're landing." He sighed and pulled open the harness, causing Binks to fall into his seat. He then closed the harness.

"Meesa thank you, General Fett," Binks said. Jango was unsure if it was embarrassment or just the way the Gungan sounded.

"No problem senator. Wouldn't want unsecured cargo moving around during landing."

"How wude!" exclaimed the Gungan.

"Does it look like I…"

The sound of Mereel's voice booming through the speakers cut him off mid-sentence. "We've got company, inbound _Flarestar-class_Attack shuttle on an intercept vector!"

"Maybe they're here to escort us to the pirate base?" suggested Senator Karros.

"Unlikely Senator. Mereel, show this chaakar just who he's messing with. And patch me through. Hondo is going to find out what happens when you change the deal last minute." A moment later his HUD alerted him to the fact that he was transmitting to the shuttle. "Listen here you Weequay scum, tell Hondo that if he decides to screw me over, then he's in trouble…"

"No response General!" informed Mereel.

"We tried. Mereel, shoot him down."

"On it General!"

**Lieutenant N-7 Mereel**

Mereel could see the shabuir on his scanners, he was trying to fire at them with his shuttles laser cannons. Unfortunately for him, his ship had shields. "Ad'ika, try and dissuade our friend here."

"On it ner vod." Mereel watched his power level indicator as the dual medium plasma cannons on the rear of the craft discharged. He bet that the poor shabuir sent to attack them was regretting his decision right about now. A few moments later, both A'den and his targeting computer told him that the Flarestar's shields were down. "His shields are down!"

"Ours aren't exactly too great either," he informed the others. Looking at his scanners however he could see that the pilot had enough, he was breaking off his attack.

"Mereel, track that shuttle. I want to know where the chaakar is going!"

"On it General!" Based on the range of the craft and its current velocity Mereel could find where Hondo Ohnaka's little pirate outpost was. "Got the location of their base sir, should we beat him home?"

"No, keep following him. I have a hunch and I want to see if it's right." Mereel smiled, he was always up for turning the tables on some pirates. He activated the cloak on the gunship, then the jammers – rendering them invisible to both the naked eye and scanners. Looking back on everything, Mereel couldn't say that he wasn't expecting something like this to happen the moment they left Coruscant.

Mereel couldn't even begin to think what the two politicians and the four diplomatic security troopers would have done if they were shot down. He was also sure that Representative Binks would have found a way to cause more trouble than good. He found it hard to understand how he even became a Representative in the first place. He was glad that at least the GAR was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Senate, he would hate to let some di'kutla politician run the war.

The clouds cleared to reveal a landing pad near the rear end of the pirate's base. There a small group of pirates gathered, one of them was talking to the pilot that had just got out of the Flarestar shuttle.

"Reached the base General, activating view screen."

A moment later Jango responded, "Just what I thought, de-cloak and set us down Mereel."

Mereel nodded and did as instructed.

**General Jango Fett**

Jango turned to Ordo and Stone. "Ordo get Ad'ika and come with me. Stone, ready your men."

Both of them nodded in reply, "Sir!"

Jango watched Ordo walk toward the cockpit to get A'den and Stone and his men get out of their seats. The various troopers were picking up their weapons. Commander Stone had two DC17s, his men had DC15s Carbines, Ordo had a DX-16 and a VSR and A'den had a DX-16. They were more than well equipped to take on some pirates. Jango watched as the doors opened with a hiss, revealing several very shocked pirates.

"See Turk, I told you I couldn't shoot them down! They're…" said the pilot.

"It's Jango Fett!" called out his 'boss.'

"That's right utreekov, I only want the pilot and 'Turk' here alive."

In a flash they moved into action. Ordo from where he was sitting in the gunship fired at one, A'den took another and Commander Stone took a third. Three pirates dropped to the ground dead, scorch marks on their chest showing off commendable marksmanship.

"Look, I don't want any trouble Mr. Jango Fett, sir," said Turk, backing up.

"You should've thought about that when you sent your chaakar here after us. On second thought, I don't need the pilot alive. Shoot him." Out of the corner of his eye he could see Ordo fire again, the purple bolt hit the pilot in the chest and he dropped dead as well. "Where's Hondo?"

"He's in the great hall. He doesn't want to be disturbed…"

"That's the least of his problems. Commander, restrain this pirate scum and bring him with us."

"Yes sir!" Stone said, before signaling two of his men to restrain him.

"What are you doing? You can't take me to Hondo!"

"Why can't I, he's your 'boss' isn't he? What's the problem then?"

"All right, all right, but you can't tell Hondo."

Jango took several steps toward him, "You're going to learn, that I'm a _lot_scarier than Hondo is."

Turk looked at him for a moment, unsure about whether to believe him or not. Jango pulled his pistol out aimed it right at Turk's head, then firing right next to it. The bolt streaked right passed his head, the bolt missing by barely a centimeter.

"I ordered your ships be shot down! I wanted the spice to myself!"

"See now, was that so hard?" Jango snarled. Turk shook his head and Jango cocked his arm back right before unleashing a solid right hook on Turk, knocking him out cold. "Drag that scum into the gunship. I don't like littering," he ordered. Commander Stone and one of his troopers dragged the unconscious body of Turk into the gunship's troop bay. "Mereel, head for the main base structure. I want you to take out the power pylons connected to the base on the way."

"Yessir."

He watched the doors closing and the gunship lift into the air as it flew toward the base. In less than a minute Mereel was slowing down. "Sir, something's wrong. Scanners indicate that the General's ship has been powered down for too long. They haven't been inside of it since they contacted the Senate. I don't know about the Jedi very well, but I do know that it's doubtful that they get along that well with these pirates."

"Yeah, something's not right. Proceed with orders Mereel." Jango felt the gunship vibrate as its twin Mass Drivers fired. Looking out the view screen he watched as two bolts streaked toward the power pylons and blew one of them into pieces. The destroyed pylon prevented power from flowing cutting power to the base.

"Sir, we've got armored speeders inbound!" called out Mereel.

"Show them some Mandalorian hospitality Mereel" he returned. Even inside the gunship Jango could hear the missiles exit the rotary launcher on either wing. He smiled with grim satisfaction when he heard the sound of three missile impacts.

"All threats neutralized General!"

"Good job Mereel, take us in, we don't want to keep Hondo waiting." The doors opened in front of him with a hiss. He stepped out of the gunship with A'den, Ordo, Commander Stone and his men and a still unconscious Turk. They stepped in and he could see the two Jedi holding Hondo hostage. "Looks like this situation is under control."

Hondo almost did a double take, if it wasn't for the lightsaber held to his neck. "Jango! Here? Why?" His men, standing in front of Skywalker and Kenobi, weapons drawn, began to grow more agitated.

"You and I have always got along Hondo, there a reason you decide to attack my new client?" Jango asked, feigning a nonchalant tone.

"You work for the Republic now?" Hondo didn't seem to believe it.

"Like I said, is there a reason you're manhandling my clients?" Jango's tone took a darker turn.

"Jango, are you seeing what's happening to me here?" Hondo blurted.

"Don't give me that osik, Hondo, and I use that word politely. I can see just how you've been treating them," Jango shook his head.

Skywalker turned to Kenobi, "Is it that obvious?"

Kenobi gave him a look, "Have you smelt yourself Anakin?"

"Yeah, but he's standing all the way over there. And, he has a helmet."

Now it was his turn to give Skywalker a look, "Not the time."

"Now what Jango? You going to shoot me like you shot the men I sent to greet you?" Hondo said.

"No," Jango turned toward Stone who brought Turk forward so Hondo could see him. "Turk, tell your boss everything."

"It's my fault boss, I…I wanted to impress you is all. I tried shooting them down so we could take the survivors captive and take the ransom."

Not the confession he was looking for, but it would still convey the message that he had disobeyed orders. "You see the problem Hondo? And no, I'm not going to put down you or your men, simply out of respect for our previous... encounters. Understand that, at this point, we're even. If I ever have a problem with you again..." he tapped his blaster. "...I may not be so forgiving."

"Yes, Jango," Hondo said.

"Skywalker, Kenobi, we're leaving." They let Hondo go and walked toward him, where Ordo, A'den, Commander Stone and his men had their weapons raised. "Commander, let the Weequay go."

"What do you want me to do with Turk?"

"If you haven't learned that much from me then I don't believe we were truly friends Hondo." He left Hondo to his business and turned to Skywalker and Kenobi. "Are the two of you alright?"

Kenobi nodded. "Well, thanks to you. Anakin here was doing what he normally does and made our situation quite possibly worse than it was," Kenobi said, much to Skywalker's irritation, which he ignored. "Do you actually have the spice? That is, assuming the pirates still have Count Dooku to trade."

A Flarestar shuttle leaving the planet answered their question. Skywalker nodded slowly. "Well, I guess that answers that question. Home?"

He nodded once. "Yes, Home. I believe there's someone I need to visit in the med bay."

Skywalker nodded. "Yes Admiral Kote, I heard what happened. Just one thing Jango."

"What might that be Skywalker?"

"Why'd _you_ come on this mission, wasn't it a diplomatic one?"

"Didn't you hear? I'm the Mandalorian Negotiator."

**Agent Helena Deviss**

"I'm sorry miss, but you can't be here. Friends and relatives only," said the Trooper, a Captain by the looks of it, at the entrance to the room. She was about to lose her temper with him when another Trooper, one she recognized as Commander Sharp, walked in.

"It's okay Razor, she's a friend," Sharp said. "Helena, he's not conscious yet. Do you want to come back later?"

"It's okay, I might not be able to come back later." She was soon to be off on a mission, she wouldn't get to see him later.

"Alright. Go ahead, then. You stay safe Helena."

"I always do," she said as she made to enter the room.

As she was entering the room she heard Sharp speak, "If I had a credit for every time I heard that one."

There she could see Nyles lying on the bed, clad in hospital gown, fluid drip sharp stuck in his arm. He wasn't moving, but she could make out his chest moving with every breath. There was only one other time she had seen him like this, that was after that terrible crash he had during training. Of course back then, he had a lot more casts. He'd had broken several bones, after all.

However, she knew as well as anybody that a knife to the gut was a slow painful death if not treated correctly. Luckily for Nyles, he was being treated correctly and he would recover, but she still hated seeing him like this. After all, he was her friend.

What was that thing that someone once told her? When you regret not spending time with someone, every moment in their presence is a welcome comfort? Or something like that anyway. "You idiot, what possessed you to attack that bounty hunter on your own? Don't you know you have people who care for you?" The unsaid part of that statement was 'Don't you know I care for you?'

Of course, he was still unconscious and didn't even respond to her statement. She looked at his face, the scar running down from just below his right eye. Her thoughts flashed back to the time she visited him in the med bay after the crash. She had just reprimanded him for taking such a risk. He had simply responded with, "I thought you said women like men with scars."

She responded with, "Yes Nyles, but those are all along your lower back."

His response was "Maybe I should go get one where people can see it then." Well you got your wish Nyles, if that what you really wanted? Of course it wasn't, but her sitting around here musing on things that had no consequence was foolish. She wasn't helping him and she wasn't helping herself. She walked over to him and took one last look before she walked out the door.

As soon as she stepped out she heard the voice of Commander Sharp, "What, no kiss?"

"Don't be stupid, I wouldn't do something like that."

"But you don't deny you care for him."

"I didn't say I did, either."

"You don't have to _say_ anything. _You_ may be an intelligence agent, but _I_ don't have to be one to read your body language."

"He's not interested, Sharp. I bet he has some Mandalorian warrior woman just waiting for him."

"Taking relationship advice from a clone? That's rich, but he's got a lot on his plate. That and you never write, you never call. Of course that utreekov can't see what's obvious. Did you know he asked me too? Asked me why women didn't pay attention to him?"

"No, I didn't."

"You know what I told him?"

"No, I don't."

"I told him that they can tell when a man is taken."

"And you think he's taken?"

"Isn't he? Anyways, that's just my two credits, so take it however you want to. Good luck on your mission," Sharp shrugged. Deviss nodded and left the medical center, the words of Sharp spinning around in her mind.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Nyles blinked once, before opening his eyes. The sounds of conversation woke him up. Sitting in front of was a young woman with black hair in a 'bob'. She had green Mandalorian Iron armor, this was of course, none other than his sister – Saram Kote. "Nyl'ika you're awake! Buir, Nyl'ika is awake!"

Nyles could see his mother walk toward his bed in her gold armor. Her black hair was drawn back into a 'pony tail'. Everyone always said that he looked like his father, while his sister was a spitting image of his mother.

"Nyl'ika, how are you feeling?" she asked in her soothing voice.

"I've been better buir."

"Of course you have Nyl'ika. How does the other guy look?"

"He's a lot better for the wear, buir. In my defense, I was in cuffs."

"It's alright Nyl'ika. You know that I am and always will be proud of you. You don't have to follow in your Buir's footsteps to make me or your sister proud. We do need a brave Naval Officer to tell the galaxy that we can kick shebs on the ground and in space."

"Now you sound like 'Alor, buir," he said, giving his mother a weak smile.

"He said that, did he?" asked his mother, smiling.

"Buir's right you know, Nyl'ika."

A voice from the entrance caught his attention, "Of course she is Sar'ika."

"'Alor, come to tell me that I was stupid to take on Bane alone?" Nyles would've been surprised if he wasn't still feeling the painkillers heavily.

"Of course not Nyles, I came to see how you are after that hutuune stabbed you in the gut," Jango said.

"That's quite nice, 'Alor, now either they've got me dosed on painkillers pretty heavily or I'm seeing Skywalker and Kenobi here."

"No, you're not hallucinating Nyles they're here to see you too," Jango said, offering a smile.

"Oh, am I going to get a lot of visitors today?" Nyles asked in the same slow, drugged voice.

"Kal and his boys, Vau, Omega, Delta, and your boys will eventually want to see you," Jango shrugged.

"And Snips," Skywalker said from the hallway. Jango didn't like being interrupted, but he let it slide, half-smiling when he glanced to glare at Skywalker. Nyles wanted to smile.

"Yes, there are a lot of people who want to see you," Jango said, looking back at Nyles.

"No rest for the weary?" Nyles mumbled.

"Cheer up, Nyl'ika" said his sister, "Buir brought some Uj cake."

Skywalker grinned, "Did someone say cake?"

"And the famous Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, walks into my hospital room. To eat cake. I must be a lucky man."

"Well, in Anakin's defense it does smell delicious," said Kenobi as he stepped in.

"Well I did give Kal the cake that got his boys addicted to it," said his mother.

Obi Wan smiled, "I don't believe we've been introduced. Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi, at your service."

"Shael Kote. It's nice to meet you Master Kenobi."

"I'm sorry that it wasn't under better circumstances."

"I'm not dead," Nyles said, going for optimistic and getting mumbly again.

"Of course not," said his mother giving him a concerned look.

Knocking on the door of the room caught all of their attention, standing in the doorway was someone he'd been introduced to only recently. Someone whose existence he'd been made aware of only recently. "Ah, Arla. Come to see Nyles?"

"Of course, I'm not some insensitive di'kut," Arla elbowed Jango in the chest playfully. He jabbed her in the ribs and she squirmed away from him

"Thanks, Arla," Nyles said, smiling. He was feeling less drugged-out the longer he talked.

"No problem Nyles, no problem. When you're brother speaks so highly of someone, you will definitely want to meet them. Of course, this was one of those rare moments where you're not vaporizing Separatist warships."

"I did tell my assistant to clear my schedule. I mean, it was not like the could have put this bed on the bridge."

He could see both his mother and his sister shaking their heads at his humor. Arla turned toward Jango, "I like this one, he's funny."

"I do try," Nyles said, nodding to himself.

"So, how do the aruetii officers take being ordered by you?" Arla asked.

"Haven't met many officers that were junior to me, some of the other Admirals are curious to see how a modern Mandalorian Naval Officer behaves, as if we haven't led our navies to victory in the past. Of course, my reputation precedes me in most cases."

Arla nodded, "In their defense, it's been a while since we kicked shebs in a naval battle." Jango gave her a look. "You know, before this war."

Skywalker turned toward him, "Well, we'd best be going. Give our report to the council. It's good to see that you're alive and well Admiral, I hope to see you on your feet at some point."

"As do I. Oh and General Skywalker?"

"Yes Admiral?"

"Call me Nyles."

"Then I'm Anakin," Skywalker said. With that, the two Jedi left the room.

He could hear the voice of Commander Sharp in the doorway, "Nyles? Oh, is this a bad time?"

Jango beckoned him forth, "Come in Commander, we'll step out."

Nyles turned to his mother and sister, "Buir, Sar'ika, have you met Commander Sharp?"

Saram nodded, "Yes, we've met. We talked while you were still asleep." He rolled his eyes in response to her comment.

"Of course."

"We'll step out for a moment, come on Sar'ika." With that his mother and his sister stepped out of the room. Sharp, Flare, Deadeye, Rain, Data, Razor, Wraith, Glaive and Scythe stepped into the room.

"Nyles, how are you feeling?"

"Like I told my buir Sharp, I've been better."

"Sick of sitting in that bed?"

"No point complaining about something you're in no position to change."

"True. I take it General Fett told you about the number of visitors you have lined up today?"

"A little too many for my taste."

"Well, we just wanted to step in for a moment and see how you're feeling."

Razor nodded, "Can't wait to get back to kicking seppy shebs with you, sir."

Nyles smiled. "_That_ belongs on a 'get well' holo."

Data slapped his helmet, a comical armored impression of a face-palm. "I _knew_ we forgot something. Darn it, Sharp, sir, why didn't you remind us?"

Sharp rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyways, Delta and Omega are due in an hour or so. We'll leave you to get some rest."

"Hey, I've been sleeping for a while, haven't I?"

"You'll need it. Nyles?"

"Yes, Sharp?"

"A certain someone came to see you."

"Who?"

Sharp paused for a moment, "Never mind, I'll tell you later. Get some rest, medic's orders." Nyles nodded and closed his eyes, sleep soon took hold of him. He dropped off so quickly that he couldn't tell if he was dreaming when he heard, "If only you knew Nyles, that she actually cares."

**Till next time…**


	7. Chapter 7 - Trespass

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 7 – Trespass

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Nyles finished strapping on his body suit and began attaching the plating onto his armor. It had been a couple days that he had been in the hospital, and he had been visited by a sizable number of people. While he couldn't complain about sitting around doing nothing for the last two days, he was more than ready to get back to work. With the plating attached, he began attaching the supplemental systems. Finally he placed his helmet back on his head and began walking to the door.

He opened the door and waiting for him outside was Sharp and his men. "Nyles, ready to get back to work?" asked Commander Sharp. Nyles could almost see the smile underneath his helmet.

"Two days in a hospital is enough for me. I'm more than ready to get back to work."

"Of course. You know what I heard?"

"What did you hear, Sharp?"

"That the number of Separatist ships destroyed by the Republic Navy has dropped," Sharp grinned.

"I'm sure that's not true, but I will accept your compliment," Nyles said with a smile. Sharp nodded and offered him his rifle and pistol. Nyles took both weapons from Sharp, dropping his pistol into its holster and placing his rifle on his back. "So, Skywalker has another mission?" He asked as they began walking toward one of the landing pads.

"We're off to Orto Plutonia. Our outpost there has stopped checking in."

"Of course it has," he said as he followed them out onto the landing pad. He watched as a MAAT/SOH gunship touched down on the pad. The doors swung open with a hiss. Inside the gunship, Captain Razor and Lieutenant Wraith were waiting for him.

"Admiral Kote sir! Nice to see you back on your feet" said Razor, saluting him.

"Nice to be back on my feet Razor," he said as he stepped into the gunship. "You may not be eager to back to work when you hear where we're going."

"Orto Plutonia, right sir? A little cold doesn't frighten us."

Wraith nodded as if weighing his statement, "But whatever took out our vode on Orto Plutonia isn't?"

"Nothing's scarier than a pissed off Mandalorian," returned Razor.

The gunship eventually landed in the hangar bay of the _Liberty_. He stepped out of the gunship and looked around the bay, in all honesty he had missed the sights and sounds of his ship. He missed watching maintenance crews working on starfighters, missed hearing the grating sound of arc welders.

Eventually making his way onto the bridge, he removed his helmet and took a look around. He had missed the view of the entire upper half of the ship that the bridge gave him. Blade walked up to him, a cup of caf in hand. "Good to have you back sir. Orders?"

"Let's join General Skywalker and Kenobi. Accelerate to the system's edge and make ready to jump to hyperspace."

"At once, sir," said Blade as he turned around to relay the orders. Nyles watched from the bridge as the ship began moving to join the two other Venators accelerating to system's edge. "All hands, prepare for hyperspace jump!" The space around the ship was replaced with the blue hued alternate dimension of Hyperspace.

Once they had reached Orto Plutonia they had deployed Shadow Regiment in gunships to the surface to join General's Skywalker and Kenobi as well as Torrent Company. He was on one of the gunships that were heading down to the surface. He had to see what exactly had happened to the outpost, his men knew not to treat him like a cripple and business went about as usual as with all previous occasions he had left the ship.

Nyles checked the equipment that he brought with him; DX-16 Disruptor Rifle, several power cells for that weapon and his Westar DX-12 and several power cells for that weapon as well. "Do we have any data from the scanners?"

Sharp shook his head, "Base is dead, just like it says on the scan."

Razor took a breath, "Shab, whatever did this is going to have their shebs kicked so badly…"

"We don't know what did this yet," reasoned Flare.

Deadeye pulled back on the charging handle of his Verpine Shatter rifle. "I agree with Razor, whatever it is, it's dead."

The gunships touched down near the Torrent Company's and the doors opened with a hiss. The moment that happened the cold breeze assaulted his helmet leaving bits of snow on his visor. He could see Anakin and Obi Wan in cold gear. "Captain Rex, have your men survey the area. Place as many of those sensor beacons as you can before dawn."

Rex nodded, "Yes sir!"

"So, we going to sweep that base tonight, or what?" he asked, raising his voice so that he could be heard over the howling winds.

"Nyles, good to see you up and about," said Skywalker, smiling. Nyles wondered whether the wind was causing the wide grin or was he genuinely _that_happy.

"I'm happy to be up and about myself."

He could hear Obi Wan's voice, "Do you know something we don't Admiral?"

"Why would you believe that General Kenobi?"

"Well, your large rifle, the number of power cells for example."

"The truth is that I don't, doesn't mean that when we face whatever did this I want to be covering in the back with no weapon. Besides, this happens to be my favorite rifle, wouldn't go anywhere without it."

Another voice called out from behind him, "General Kenobi!" He turned around to see the Senator of Pantora, two Pantoran guards and what looked to be the Chairman of Pantora himself.

Obi Wan turned around, "Chairman Cho, Senator Chuchi, I suggest you wait here until we can secure the area."

"I respect your judgment General Kenobi, but I will go where I choose. This is sovereign Pantora territory." Nyles rolled his eyes underneath his helmet, well in that case we should probably write you off as dead.

"I thought this planet was uninhabited and therefore it's not aligned."

"Our moon of Pantora is the only civilization in this system. I'm the one who asked the Senate to protect this planet." Nyles noticed several of his men looking in the Chairmen's direction when he said that. Did the fool realize that he was acknowledging that the death of those troopers was now on him? "This wasteland belongs to us!"

"With all due respect Chairmen, this is for the Senate to decide, not us," came Obi Wan's reply.

"Ah but the Jedi report to the Senate, which is Senator Chuchi of Pantora."

Nyles turned toward the Chairman and cleared his throat, "The Jedi may report to the Senate and as a result the Senator, I will remind you that both me and my troops as well as General Skywalker's do not have to listen to the General should they deem it necessary."

"And who exactly are you?" asked the Chairman, visibly annoyed.

"_Admiral_ Nyles Kote, Republic Navy."

"You too report to the Senate, don't you Admiral?"

"I report to Naval Command, and that's as far up the chain of command that I care to go."

The Senator decided to cut the Chairman's pointless arguing short, "Technically speaking Master Jedi, Admiral, the Chairman is correct. Because this planet is uninhabited the moon of Pantora reserves the right to continue as its protectorate."

"Point taken Senator," said Obi Wan, finally giving in. "Anakin, stay here with the Senator and the droids while we secure the base." He pulled the rifle off of his back and activated the power cell. Sharp and his men followed behind him while Razor, Wraith and the rest of Shadow Regiment followed Captain Rex.

As the blast doors opened, troopers filed into the base checking every corner of it. Nyles didn't even know what to think when he saw the helmets placed on the stakes. He watched Kenobi walk toward one of the helmets and lift it off revealing a sharpened wooden stake on which it was resting. Rex looked at it shocked, "I don't get it" he said, shaking his head.

Sharp walked over, looking at the stake for a minute, "I do. We're not alone out here."

The Chairmen stepped into the base looking around, "Must be Separatists."

"I'm not sure," said Kenobi, looking put off by the surroundings.

"I agree with General Kenobi," said Nyles "This looks like the work of something a lot more…savage."

Obi Wan nodded, "I agree, but let's make sure that we're right." Nyles nodded and the continued sweeping the base. With the Generator out, Nyles, Kenobi the Chairmen and his bodyguards along with some troopers moved to reactivate it. As they were moving up some service stairs Nyles felt a burst of pain from his abdomen wound when he turned to the left. He let out a small grunt of discomfort and dropped his left hand to its source.

"Not cut out for this kind of work Admiral? Probably soft from all that time you stood around on your bridge," declared the Chairman, a smile forming on his face. Nyles shot him a look. Sharp turned around but Nyles put his hand on the man's forearm, signaling him to not bother. Obviously this politician thought he was some kind of hot shot.

They stepped into the room and the troopers fanned out securing the room. Data made a beeline for the Generator console. Putting his weapon away he began entering commands, "Standard Republic power generator, should be easy to start up."

"Can you tell me what happened here, trooper?" asked the Chairman.

Data shook his head, "It's Lieutenant, Lieutenant Data. And this is just a _generator_ sir, it doesn't do much other than provide power." The Chairman looked annoyed, but Kenobi smiled.

"Come now, the elevators must be working now." The entire group moved back to the elevators and ascended to command center at the top of the base. Once they were there Data moved to one of the Command consoles and began tapping commands in, checking the various systems. The Chairman walked to the center of the room.

"Do you think the Separatists are building a forward base to attack Pantora?" asked the Chairman.

Nyles really had enough of this di'kut. "The Separatists don't put our men's helmets up on stakes Chairman," Nyles said. He started to think about what helmets on stakes would mean. _Get the hell off our land_ was the first one that came to mind. A glance at Kenobi showed the Jedi shared this thought.

"I don't think we're dealing with Separatists," Kenobi agreed, shaking his head. "These computers haven't been touched."

Captain Rex walked over. "Sir, our scouts have spotted a droid base on the other side of the ice ridge."

Nyles watched from the gunship as the speeders stopped near the droid base. The gunship touched down and they stepped out. Two ARF Troopers in ARF Mk II armor walked toward him. "Admiral Kote, this base is inactive," one of them said.

"Just as I guessed. Any idea what happened here?" he asked them.

"No sir, we didn't investigate the base. 501st boys wanted to contact General Kenobi first."

"That's fine," he said stepping off the gunship, rifle in hand. Looking around the base Nyles could see the heads of several droids on stakes, just like at the Republic outpost.

"Looks like whoever hit our base, hit the Separatists too," observed Anakin.

Obi Wan turned toward Rex, "Rex, help Anakin place the sensor beacons. You four come with me." The four troopers in mention followed Obi Wan, as did Nyles. Moving through the base, Nyles could see decapitated droids everywhere. They stopped when they could see Anakin in the passageway below them.

"Did you find anything, Anakin?" Nyles asked him.

"I found some large footprints," informed Anakin.

"Have one of your men make a cast," ordered Obi Wan. They moved on, walking into what seemed to be the command center. In the center was a large Holocom, as one would expect to find. Obi Wan raised his goggles and walked over to its console when they were joined by Anakin. Obi Wan began the process to play the last hologram.

"Sensors are in place," informed Anakin. Data checked his scanners what were now linked into the sensors feed.

"In place and operational Generals," he said, Anakin nodded in response.

"I think I found something," said Obi Wan. The device failed to play anything despite Obi Wan's mashing of the key. "Blast it!" Anakin responded by giving a sharp whack to the device.

The hologram of a droid was displayed, "685 to command, there are too many of them. They've overrun the base! We need reinforcements!" The droid's calls for help were silenced when something knocked it down and cut the transmission short.

"What was that?" asked a shocked Anakin. Nyles was inclined to agree. Whatever it was, it was big.

"Whatever it was, it's a good warrior," Nyles didn't consider it a proper warrior, but it's combat prowess was not to be doubted.

"Droid's log indicates they were investigating the southern canyon," informed Captain Rex.

"Sounds like a good place to start," said Obi Wan. With that the two Jedi disappeared.

Before long Nyles was back at the Republic base. He had just witnessed the Chairman's tantrum and was not impressed. He wanted to say something, but he knew that stubborn people were hard to influence, and he could care less for the Chairman. Sharp held out his hand. It took Nyles a moment to realize Sharp was giving him his painkillers. So he removed his helmet to take them.

"That scar looks fresh," someone said. Both Nyles and Sharp turned toward the source of the voice, surprised to see Senator Chuchi.

"It is," he said, popping the pills into his mouth.

"I'm sorry about the Chairman," she started.

He cut her off. "Don't bother Senator. I don't need to explain myself to him."

"What do you think did this? The Chairman wants it dead."

"I don't condone the loss of life here," he said looking around at the bodies still being carried out. "You know what's funny? There's nowhere to send these bodies, no grieving families to tend to. We take care of our own, we are those grieving families. No doubt the Jedi will find what did this and then I only hope for their sake that we don't decide to turn that grief into anger."

"I don't understand," she said.

"Have you heard of Jango Fett?"

"Yes, he's a famous bounty hunter. Template for the clone army."

"You see Senator, that's the problem. The galaxy sees Jango as a bounty hunter, we see him as Mand'alor, our leader. This is not the Republic's army, correction, _we_ are not the Republic's army. The Republic is just another client. These aren't clones, these are my fellow Mandalorians, my brothers. My _Vode,_" Nyles said. Then he sighed. He would hate to think about what would happen to his vode if Jango wasn't here, if he'd been killed on Geonosis.

"I think I understand."

"See that you do Senator, because the last thing that you want to do is spit in the faces of these grieving men." Nyles had enough of this whole situation. The Jedi were bound to have discovered some form of indigenous life here that would have slaughtered his vode out of lack of discretion. He alone couldn't stop this, but there was one man who could countermand this – Jango Fett. Nyles got to work.

Several minutes later Razor walked into the room. "Sir, Generals Kenobi and Skywalker are back," he informed. Nyles nodded and replaced his helmet. He headed to the speeder bay.

When he entered, he heard the voice of Chairman Cho, "Look at what they've done, they've slaughtered your men."

Obi Wan corrected him, "They only want to be left alone, the droids attacked them and our outpost got caught in the middle."

"They must be subdued, they're dangerous! Captain Rex, prepare your troops for battle!" ordered Chairman Cho.

"Belay that order Captain," said Nyles. "Chairman, I won't have any more lives be lost in your attempt to retake this planet for Pantora. These Talz slaughtered enough Mandalorians in the name of control of this planet. I won't have any of my men, or General Skywalker's men die for this. If you want this planet so badly, you'll have to petition the Senate for an _invasion_!"

"How dare you…" he started.

"I just did," he said activating his COM. "Data, begin deactivation procedures." He then turned back toward the Chairman, "I just got off the COM with General Fett. Given that this planet is inhabited, GAR Troops will not assist in any activities unless and until the Senate formally passes a motion to invade this planet in the name of Pantora, which I estimate will never happen." He turned toward Obi Wan, "General Kenobi, I guess you have some sort of peace conference arranged?"

"Yes, um," started Obi Wan.

Nyles cut him off, "Good. I suggest you attend that conference Chairman. Remember, if you start a war it will be just you and your men. Which should be fine, I understand you were willing to die for your people. Though it would be in vain." With that Nyles turned and walked back toward the elevator.

Soon enough the Chairman was forced to accept a treaty with the Talz. Nyles didn't even to bother to go with the Jedi but instead waited in a cloaked gunship far above the Talz encampment. He didn't want the Jedi to suffer in case the Chairman got into a conflict with the Talz. Of course with the rough weather he was forced to return to the base half way through the meeting despite the advanced stabilizers on the MAAT series gunship. Now he was back on the ship.

"Do you think we should have got revenge for our vode, Nyles?" Sharp asked.

"They deserve it, but at what cost Sharp?"

"Of course..." With that Sharp walked off.

Blade walked toward him, "Sir, orders?" Nyles turned and saw the two Venators leaving the system.

"Make ready to jump to Hyperspace," he said. The _Liberty_ accelerated toward the system's edge to join the other ships in the battle group.

**Agent Helena Deviss**

Helena cursed the civilian clothes she was wearing, she would take her temperature controlled stealth suit any day of the week. She leaned against the wall, looking into the warehouse that served as a base of operations for the Perma crime family. She could see inside one of the heads of the Perma crime family, talking to none other than Count Dooku over Holocom. She counted around six guards, she could easily take six criminal low lives. She reached for the Blaster the she had hidden in the waistband of her trousers.

She turned her attention back to the scene in front of her, activating her HUD. All right, it was now or never. After all, she had tracked Nuvo Vindi and the stolen medical supplies to this warehouse. She input the access keys to the rear service entrance and stepped inside. She saw the six guards, they were relatively relaxed. They certainly weren't expecting her to be there.

From behind the crate she was hiding behind she watched the guards and waited for the part in their patrol routes that she had observed and waited to exploit it. She waited until the guard passed her until she removed her vibroblade and after covering his mouth she stabbed him in the neck. She held his body up and slowly dragged it behind a crate.

She knew that the next guard's patrol route passed the set of crates opposite to her, but with him fast approaching she would have to improvise. She grabbed the guard's blaster rifle and fired a bolt into the air. The other guard came over to investigate and she repeated the process with him as well. OF course now there was no chance that she could take the others quietly, she would have to go loud.

Stepping out of cover, Helena unleashed a blistering hail of fire at the four guards standing next to their boss. Two of them went down in with blaster wounds in their chests, the other two turned their blasters in her direction. She put a pair of three bolt bursts into their chests, dropping them as well. She stepped out of her cover, blaster aimed at the dead guards' boss. "Hands where I can see them." He complied, putting his hands on his head. The hologram Dooku turned toward her.

"You have no idea who you are messing with b****," said the head of Perma crime family Tuvoc Rinod.

"Ah, an agent of the Republic no doubt," said Dooku.

"Republic Intelligence? Tell me, how much is the Republic paying you? I'll double it, maybe triple it if you…expand your job description," offered Tuvoc. Helena knew just what he was referring to, and frankly she was suppressing the urge to shoot him.

"How about you shut the hell up, and I don't shoot you in the head?" she asked, aiming her appropriated blaster at his head to prove her point.

He nodded, "Pity, I hate to see it end this way…" the flash of a laser sight alerted her to the red dot on her chest. Sighing, she tossed the blaster away. With one hand raised she reached into her waistband and removed her blaster pistol, throwing it next to the blaster rifle before finally placing both hands on her head.

"Good work Tuvoc," said Dooku before turning toward her. "Now my dear, we find out everything we want to know. Tuvoc, I leave her in your capable hands." Having taken commercial transport to get here, Helena knew that fighting out of here would not only be not worth the risk it posed but also only serve to prolong her eventual recapture or death. She noticed three newly arrived guards walk up to her. There was only one way out of this, she reached for her wrist COM unit had hit a button on it.

This button would cause the unit to disperse a multitude of tracker nanomites onto her hand, allowing any Republic personnel who respond to the distress beacon in her safe house also activated by her wrist COM. She felt her wrists being pulled together in front of her and a pair of stun cuffs being slapped on. 'Hmm… Locris Syndicated Securities SC-401 Stun Cuffs, those would prove to be a problem.' Her thoughts were interrupted by a prod in the ribs from the guard's blaster. She shot him a look as she began walking in the direction he was gesturing. Helena knew it would be a while before anyone came for her, but she was ready, ready to hold on…What was that thing about regrets?

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"It just reads RIN 44821," said Blade before he turned toward him "what does that mean?" Nyles himself didn't understand, but that string of numbers was for some strange reason familiar to him. "Looks like some kind of identification number…"

"What's our ETA to the rendezvous point?" he asked, frowning.

"Approximately an hour sir," said Blade after checking the Navicomputer from his helmet.

"Alright. So that's just it Blade? No coordinates, nothing else?"

"I can trace the signal sir, but I don't know what good that will do," informed Blade.

"Run a decryption program," said Commander Sharp walking from the elevator over to them.

"With what?" scoffed Blade "You want me to run your birthday?"

"It's the same as yours di'kut," he said, finally stopping where they were standing. "No, run it with standard Republic Intelligence decryption keys. You want me to call Data?"

"No, I've got this," said Blade as he began tapping commands into the console.

Suddenly the message expanded to "DISTRESS BEACON ACTIVE. IDENTIFICATION: RIN 44821. OPERATIVE NAME: DEVISS, HELENA. LOCATION: PERMA. STATUS: CAPTURED, CONSIDER UNDER DURESS SHOULD COMMUNICATION OCCUR. END BEACON."

"Shab…" breathed Nyles.

Sharp looked at him, "You should really keep better track of your friends…"

Nyles turned toward him. "You knew?" he asked, his tone a tad more accusing than he intended.

"There was a reason I came up here. Yes, I happen to know her identification number…I was the poor shabuir who handled interrogation training because the mongrel officer there couldn't stomach it! So yes, I remember the identification numbers, all of them. My eidetic memory doesn't help me forget it all…"

Nyles dialed his tone back several notches, "You never told me…"

"There's a lot of things you don't know Nyles," said Sharp, starting off staring straight at him but eventually bowing his head. "And some of them I hope you never find out."

**Agent Helena Deviss**

Helena Deviss looked around the room, it was unremarkable, not a specialized interrogation room. But she knew that you didn't need a fancy cart of scary looking cutting instruments to effectively interrogate someone. The stun cuffs they fitted her with would do more than sufficiently. Fortunately for her, she was trained for this, but it wouldn't do her much good if they decided to drop a bucket of water on her head. No matter how well she was trained, she was only human and water amplified shock would most definitely stop her heart.

Looking at the table set up in front of her she could see all of her equipment laid out. Her wrist COM, her blaster, her ear piece and her holovisor. Of course, the guards had left the remote to her cuffs on the table. What a rookie mistake, the guards were also conveniently standing in front of the table. Of course, leaving her hanging by her wrists without securing her feet to the floor was another rookie mistake, one that would cost them her as a prisoner. She swung backward and forward until she came close enough to the table. Once close enough she reached out with her feet which, though bound together, could easily hit the release switch.

This endeavor was cut short but a short burst of electricity that came from her cuffs. She made no sound, and that wasn't because she was gagged. She had forced them to gag her earlier by emitting a string of expletives, it gave them an illusion of control, which despite her current predicament she planned on using to her advantage. Of course, in an interrogation, gagging someone was the stupidest thing to do. How would you question someone if they can't talk?

She was left swinging until someone from behind caught her. Turning her head slightly, she could make out that it was none other than Tuvoc. "My dear, did you really think I would leave the remote to your cuffs on that table?" Well it was worth a shot, but she had indeed made a mistake underestimating her enemy like this. "I apologize for that nasty shock, but I really had to see what you had up your sleeves…Oh, forgive me. Poor joke." He walked around to her front, she could see a glass in his hand. From the smell it was no doubt Alderanian wine, that was either a coincidence or Tuvoc deserved more credit than she was giving him. "Here, please remove our guest's gag, that's no way to treat a fine lady like this." A guard walked up to the winch controls that kept her suspended above the warehouse floor. The winch lowered so that her feet were now on the floor. The burly Nikto guard walked up to her and roughly pulled off the tape that covered her lips. "Be gentle now Revo," said Tuvoc as he walked past Revo and toward her, offering the wine glass. "Drink?"

"I don't drink on duty," she said, giving him a snide look.

"Pity my dear, I thought you would enjoy something a little close to home," he said, setting the glass on the table. Perhaps she did underestimate him. "Might I say that you are indeed quite the beauty?"

"You might say what you wish, not that I would care to pay it any mind. Perhaps you should let me out of these binders."

"I don't doubt for a moment that if I let you out of those binders, you will not only decline my hospitality but break every bone in my body."

"And Revo's too," she said, nodding in the Nikto's direction.

"Have you a man, someone that appreciates you? It would be sad to hear that there is no one that appreciates someone like you. Very sad indeed."

"Aw, that's sweet. You treat all your dates like this? Throw them in stun binders and offer them wine while throwing cheap compliments?"

"I'm trying to be civil my dear. There's no reason we can't be civil is there?" he asked, leaning on the table.

"There are plenty, but I'm sure you know all of them, so I'll spare you the lecture."

"You'd rather do this the hard way?" he asked, curious.

"Absolutely, any kriffing day of the week," she said defiantly.

"I see. Well, I am sorry to hear that. Revo, you can stop being gentle." The smile on Revo's face as he walked over to her was slightly unnerving. As the tape was reapplied and as she felt the tug in her shoulders as she was hoisted back up, she really hoped that the few precious moments that she managed to buy were enough for any Republic ship in the receiving range to decode her message.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Are you sure you want to come? You may see things that you don't want to see…" said Sharp as the doors to the gunship's troop bay opened.

_Start Flashback_

Everything hurt. He was more than sure that he had broken several bones and some in places that would cause a lot of problems. Even with the increasing amount of smoke pouring in through the hole in the cockpit window, his breathing was becoming more and more labored. The breathing filter in his helmet was of no use, most likely it was damaged in the crash. From the color of the smoke he knew that there wasn't much time left for him. 'I hope your proud buir, I tried to follow in your footsteps, I really did. But I'm not very good at that, as you can see.'

He considered taking off his helmet and letting the smoke kill him before the eventual explosion did. Voices were filtering through his helmet, honing in on his still active life signs. They needed to get out of here, they shouldn't have to pay the price for his mistake. When an explosion sent part of the right engine flying past the cockpit, he was glad to hear that they were considering leaving him to his fate. "We…*static* , need to get out of here! That reactor is going to critical!" came the Concord Dawn accented voice of the Clone Troopers that he had become quite familiar with.

The next voice was like that of an angel, but firm like a warrior "No, we don't *static* leave him! Let's *static* move, on me!"

"Shab *static* , I'm going to regret this…"

He could see the canopy being ripped off, t-shaped visors glowing, he was pulled out of the burning wreck. Amongst them, he could see her, one of his closest friends. He would remember her face over the next couple of days, when he was on the operating table, when he lay unconscious on the bed in the med bay.

_End Flashback_

"She didn't leave me Sharp, not when she could have died. Alive or dead, I won't leave her." Sharp nodded and signaled Talon to take off. In the cabin was Squad 14, Captain Razor and two squads of Special Operations Clones, Wraith and two squads of ARF troopers. There was more than enough to effect a rescue operation.

The gunship took off and flew out of the hangar bay and toward the planet. He remembered having to threaten the dock master when the _Liberty_arrived at Perma. The chaakar was probably working with whoever had Helena. What was it that she shortened her name to? It was so short, so different, yet perfect in some way. Ah yes, Haley, that was what it was.

"Signal is originating from a warehouse that belongs to the Perma crime families," came Data's voice.

"Perma crime families? This should be easy. Those chaakars will be a nice change from fighting droids," said Flare as he checked his Z-8 Rotary Cannon.

"Let's keep it clean and efficient. I want no mistakes. We secure Agent Deviss and get out of there. Am I clear?" asked Sharp.

The cabin echoed with cries of, "Sir, yes sir!"

Nyles nodded, "Oya."

"Coming up on the warehouse now," said Talon through the cabin speakers "Permission to take out the chaakars at the entrance?"

Nyles scowled, "Denied, they're mine." The doors opened as the gunship hovered a distance from the warehouse. Crouching, he sighted down his rifle and fired a disruptor bolt into the heads of the three guards at the entrance, dropping them all.

Deadeye nodded, "Nice shooting!"

"Thanks," he said as he stood back up. "Now let's move in and wipe them out."

**Agent Helena Deviss**

She tried to heave in breath after breath, those stun cuffs weren't a joke. But something told her that she wouldn't have to endure much longer. The smell of ionized air filled her nose which was making drawing in a breath all the more difficult. "I tried to do this civil my dear," said Tuvoc shrugging. "But you refused. And now it's a little late for that." He nodded at Revo, "Revo, do it." She jolted as a bucket of water was dropped on her. "What's the matter dear? You look like a wet cat. You know how this works, just tell me what I wanted to know. I'll even give you that glass of fine Alderanian wine.'

She was about to respond when Tuvoc's Holocom went off, "Rayen, I thought I told you…Oh, you're not Rayen" looking at the hologram she wondered if she was hallucinating, because standing there rifle in hand, was Admiral Nyles Kote.

"You must be Tuvoc. No, Rayen is very, _very_dead. Now, I suggest you surrender before I come in and shoot your worthless brains out the back of your skull."

"Come for the girl have you? I could kill her, right now, I could end her life with press of this button!" he said holding up the remote.

"You see, I know you won't do that…"

"And why is that?"

Right then the door blew open, from amidst the dust several bolts flew out and struck the guards scattered around the room, including Revo. "Because I'm the one with a disruptor pointed at your head" finished Nyles as he walked in flanked by troopers, rifle pointed straight at Tuvoc. Like the sick coward he was, Tuvoc dropped the remote. "Secure him." With that two Special Operations clones walked over to Tuvoc and cuffed him.

Data walked toward the winch controls and began lowering her as Nyles and Sharp walked over to where she would be standing once lowered down, "Hanging in there agent?" with whatever strength she had left, she shot him a look. When her feet touched the ground, Nyles held her up with one hand. The other he used to pull off his helmet.

Sharp counted to three and pulled off the tape as gently as he could. "What took you so damn long?" she asked.

"What took us? You lasted this long didn't you?" asked Sharp.

"Learned from the best, didn't I?" she said, knowing he would know what she meant. Nyles was wordless, but the concerned expression on his face said it all. She knew he needed the positive reinforcement, and it wasn't like she was badly hurt. Her strength was merely drained. Using what remained of her strength to ease some of the weight off of his hand, give him the illusion that she was better than he thought. "Hey Nyles, what brings you down here?"

He gave her a weak smile, "Returning a favor to an old friend."

What was that thing about regrets? Oh right. She leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips.

**Till next time…**


	8. Chapter 8 - Mandalorians in

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 8 – Mandalorians in scuffed beskar'gam are…

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Did you just…" he started.

"Nyles?" she asked.

"Yes?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

"Shut up."

"Yes ma'am," he said looking away. "Sharp, are we clear?"

"We were clear several minutes ago, but I thought it wrong to interrupt." Nyles blushed and replaced his helmet, exchanging his rifle for his pistol.

"Grab my gear," she breathed. Nyles nodded, motioning Data to do so.

Data walked over. "One Republic Intelligence standard issue COM unit, portable HUD and blaster pistol. Proceeding to execute pack mule protocols," he said. Both Nyles and Helena shot him a look. "What? There's a lot of stuff."

Moving at a slow pace they passed all the dead guards that they had taken out on their way in, "Wow, you guys don't screw around."

"Nobody screws with my…" he searched for the word.

"Riduur!" suggested Data.

"What does that mean?" Helena asked Nyles.

"Partner, or in this case girlfriend."

Helena's facial expression shifted from slightly pained to annoyed, "Can I borrow that disruptor?"

Data ran ahead and hid behind Flare, "Captain, don't let the scary Republic Agent shoot me!" he said with mock seriousness.

Flare shoved him. "Get off me you di'kut," he said "And stop bothering Agent Deviss."

"You too Captain!?" asked Data. Nyles just shook his head, as did Sharp.

"He's not always like this," said Sharp to Helena. "I promise."

She simply sighed.

With Squad 14 taking point and Captain Razor's and Wraith's squads taking up formation around Helena and he they made it back to the gunship where he set her down in one of the crash seats and stood next to her as the rest of his men filed into the gunship. Taking off his helmet he turned toward her, "Do you need a medic?"

"I don't, calm down Nyles. I'm alright."

"Alright, alright. How did this happen? You're usually so careful," he said.

"Six guards, I took 'em all out. Turns out there was a sniper."

"We shot that chaakar," he said with grim look on his face.

"Dark and brooding doesn't suit you," she said with a smile.

"Do I want to know why there was a glass of Alderanian wine on that table?" he asked, returning her smile.

"See, now that's the Nyles I remember. Well, you see it all started when Tuvoc here tried to charm some information out of me." Tuvoc was about to say something when Sharp shoved a rifle in his face.

"Well, sounds like an entertaining story…"

"Hardly. Long story, lots of shock torture…Nothing I wasn't prepared for."

**A/N: Reference to when Lilith in Borderlands says "Long story, lots of internal bleeding." **

"I'll bet, how does dinner and nice glass of Netra'gal strike you?"

"Sure, as long as you're buying. Might even take you up on that black ale."

Talon announced their arrival over the intercom, "Landing in two minutes, we have a team ready to take our criminal friend to the brig."

"Thanks Talon."

"No problem Admiral. _You_ have a date to get to." Nyles blushed again underneath his helmet as he helped Helena out of her seat.

Blade walked toward him, "Sir, we have a cabin ready for Agent Deviss. Med bay's standing by as well."

She looked up at him, "Right now a fresh change of clothes and a towel wouldn't be so bad."

"Fresh change might be a stretch ma'am, but we can get these clothes laundered within the hour."

"Guess it'll have to do, thank you," she said, nodding.

"Hey Blade, when was the last time you got my clothes laundered?"

"Sir, when was the last time you wore your uniform?" asked Blade. He nodded, it was true, he normally wore his armor.

After helping Helena to her cabin he had gone to his to freshen up for their dinner. After putting on his uniform he noticed that there was a knock on his door. "Come in." Sharp stepped in.

"Nyles?" he asked.

"Am I doing this right?" he asked.

"With respect, what are you doing?"

"I don't know, is it proper to wear armor at dinner?"

"Nyles, we always wear our armor."

"I know, but is it alright to do so…you know."

"Nyles, I say this with utmost respect. Put your armor back on, go out there and stop trying to be someone you're not. You're Mando'ade, and she respects that. Go out there and show her the time you both deserve. You know as well as you can do that on a battleship."

"Thanks Sharp," he said, walking over to where he stored his armor. "I needed that."

Sharp nodded, "Anytime, on the other hand don't do the thing with the knife."

"I don't think there's…" he started.

Sharp cut in, "Today's dinner _is_peppered bantha steak. So, like I said, don't do the thing with the knife."

"Alright…" he said stepping into the bathroom he began putting on his armor, first slipping on the bodysuit and then attaching the plates. Finally he put on his helmet and stepped out. "How do I look?"

"Ditch the buy'ce."

Nyles removed his helmet, "And now?"

"If I was a…" started Sharp.

"Don't finish that sentence, I get the point."

"One more thing…"

"What's that?"

"Don't be an utreekov, you have a good thing going here…"

As he was leaving Nyles stuck his arms out, palms up. "How can I possibly do something wrong? She kissed me didn't she?" Nyles could see that he had left speechless and took his cue to leave. He walked past several troopers on his way, they saluted him and some of them even wished him good luck. Did Sharp tell the entire ship? No it was probably Data who did, he would wring his neck later. On second thought that was unlikely, Data was considerably stronger than he was.

He finally reached her cabin and he knocked on the door, there was no answer. He tried again, still no answer. That was not good, he checked the door lock, well, it was definitely locked. He connected his TACPAD to the door control unit, and quickly began the door override sequence. Pulling his pistol free of its holster he hit the door release switch with one hand and scanned the room with the weapon. "What are you doing?" asked a voice from behind him that sounded a lot like Helena's.

"Not now Helena, Helena's in trouble" wait, that didn't make sense. He turned around. "Helena?"

She gave him a look, "What, a girl can't step out of her room for a second without you slicing the door lock and walking in with a disruptor?"

"Uh…This isn't what it looks like…"

"And what does it look like?"

"I'm not sure?"

She sighed, "Let's just…go for dinner. Give me the pistol."

"What? Why?"

"So you don't shoot someone in your panic. You have to stop worrying like this, calm down. What's the word in Mandalorian, udesii?"

"It's Mando'a, but yes, that's the word."

"You going to hand over that pistol now?" Reluctantly he handed over the pistol, flipping it over so that he handed it to her handle first.

"Right, any other weapons you might have?"

"Want to check?" he said as he turned toward the direction of the mess hall.

"You cheeky…" she said, half frowning.

"Did I do something wrong?" suddenly alarmed he turned around.

"Depends…" she said, nodding slowly.

"On what?"

"How forward you're trying to be."

"F-Forward?"

"Forget about it, I'm starving" she said walking ahead of him. He was still standing around very slightly confused. "Come on you big utreekov," she said, gesturing for him to follow. He raised his eyebrows. "That is the word isn't it?" Deviss asked. Nyles shook his head and joined her.

**Commander Blade**

"Yes General Kenobi, we had to make a stop on Perma."

"You are aware that not only did Admiral Nyles threaten the dock master on Perma, but he failed to check in at the rendezvous?"

"Sir, we received a distress beacon from a Republic Intelligence agent. We simply diverted, what would you have done in our position sir?"

"Why do I sense there's more to it?" he asked. 'Because you're a Jetii?' thought Blade.

"I don't understand sir," said Blade, pretending not to.

"Where is the Admiral?"

"Sir, he's unavailable at the time" he said, which technically was true.

"Oh? Of course. Well, tell him to get to Naboo, we're supposed to deal with a very delicate situation. Almost makes me wonder why I'm even reminding you to come…"

"I'll inform the Admiral," he was about to close the COM channel when Kenobi spoke again.

"And Commander?"

"Yes General?"

"Wish the Admiral luck on his dinner…" The COM channel went dead and Blade sighed, stupid Jetii and their mind reading powers, Nyles was not going to like this.

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

"Ah Sharp, what can I do for you?" asked General Fett. Sharp found it amazing how he remember so many clones.

"So General, I wanted to talk to you about something…"

"What exactly? Woman troubles, or something?" he joked, chuckling at his own joke.

"Well not me sir, it's a…Nyles."

"Nyles? Oh right, Helena finally decided to make a move? We both know Nyles wasn't the one to take the first step..."

"I'm still trying to figure out if she did it or it was the shock torture…" he said, frowning.

"You trained her better than that…" reminded General Fett.

"Yes sir, was trying to make a…" he started.

"We share a similar sense of humor, I understand that. Now, how do we help Nyles?"

"As you can imagine sir, I gave him some advice and he took it, but he still lacks that certain finesse only a Mando'ad has in wooing women."

"I want you to say that he stuttered and did something stupid," asked Jango, sighing.

Remembering the security footage that he saw of Nyles he sighed, "You could say that."

"Alright, I'll drag my shebs to Coruscant to talk to him…" said Jango, preparing to cut the call.

"Thanks sir, there are some things only a father can teach a son." The nod that Jango gave was an indicator that he understood that he was as close to father as Nyles had right now. Remembering what Nyles had said about his own father Sharp felt sorry for the man, not knowing your father or never having one in the first place was a lot easier than knowing your father and one day not having him come home…

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"I ought to organize some sort of defense against Jedi mind reading workshop so my private life isn't made public every time one of my men speaks to some Jetii!" roared Nyles. Blade was recoiling.

Sharp walked on to the bridge, "What happened to him?" he asked Blade.

"General Kenobi knows about Agent Deviss…" Blade started.

Sharp cut in, "Now the entire council will know, on the other hand you could ask him to keep it hush-hush, I reckon he might see reason. But that might give the impression that you have something to hide, and no part of a lady like that should be hid Nyles."

Nyles glared at him, "Not. Helping."

It was at that point that Helena stepped onto the bridge, "What are you boys arguing about?"

Data turned around, "Your bra size."

She fixed them all with a look, "I'm sure."

Sharp coughed, "Well Blade was telling the Admiral here that you shouldn't go down with us when we go to see the Jedi at the royal palace." Blade fixed Sharp with a glare.

"And why is that Commander?" she asked Blade.

"Worried for your safety ma'am?" he suggested.

"That's nice" she started, before she her tone changed from friendly to annoyed. "But I can handle myself. If any of you think what happened on Perma is indicative of _anything_, think again."

From behind her Nyles made a frantic cutting gesture across his neck, signaling them to stop. Blade seemed to get his cue and nodded, "Of course ma'am."

She turned toward him, "You have an armory on this tub, don't you?" He noticed that she was really annoyed and decided to ignore the fact that she had called his several million credit battleship a 'tub'.

"Of course," he said gesturing toward the bridge elevator. "Right this way." With that, the three of them took the elevator down to the troop housing deck where the ship's main armory was. If there ever was a moment to roll out the red carpet, it was to prevent a particular Republic Intelligence Agent from going nuclear in his ship.

Stepping into the armory he breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed her calm down. She did always like weapons, they said diamonds were the key to a woman's heart, but he was sure that weapons were the key to this one's. She walked over to a small locked rack of DX-12 Disruptor Pistols. He unlocked the rack remotely so that she could remove one of the weapons from the rack. She however removed two of them. Still holding onto them she walked over to the wall that stored the full Verpine Shatter Rifle kits and pulled one of them off it.

"Right, now where can I get some ammo, power cells and some sort of body armor?"

"We can see the armor master, we're about a standard hour out from Naboo, should be able to get something done."

She smiled, and then sighed "Look, I'm sorry I lost my temper. Remember the first time you showed me one of these?" she asked, gesturing to the Verpine Shatter Rifle.

"Could I forget, you won our little shooting contest so quickly, I was sour the rest of the day."

"And then I made that stupid joke about Naval officers."

"Yeah, fun times…"

"Armor master?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

They walked toward the armor master who was at the far end of the room. It was so that troopers could sort out their entire kit in one room before they had to deploy. He looked her over and pulled out his scanner, "I can get the armored bodysuit of ARC Trooper MK II armor fitted for Agent Deviss. No plates though sir, part of a problem with having an army made of one man is that they don't send you different sizes. Or plates for different genders for that matter."

"How long?"

"About five minutes? Fabricator should get one pumped out pretty quick." He nodded. "Ma'am, if you could stick your arms out and stand still I can take a scan." She immediately complied. Nyles found his eyes following the scanner as it moved along her body. If she noticed, she didn't seem to say anything. A minute later the scan was done. On the screen of the scanner was a wireframe of Helena for the fabricator to use. "All done here, you can wait if you like ma'am."

"I think I will." She nodded at the armor master and then turned toward Nyles. "That one of your projects?"

"Huh? I didn't mean to, I'm sorry" he blurted.

"I'm talking about ARC armor MK II," she said giving him a look. "Not your wandering eyes."

"Right, partly. I worked with a lot of skilled armor smiths from Keldabe for that one. Most people have great skill, they just need someone like me to come around and put it to use."

"Like this ship? Those starfighters?"

"No that's all me," he boasted.

"Right," she said, raising her eyebrows once before nodding. "Go ahead Nyles, I'll join you in the hangar before you leave."

"You sure?"

"Hey, don't let me get in the way of your duties."

"Alright, see you in the hangar Helena," he said as he walked toward the exit.

"Nyles?"

"Yeah?"

Her tone became serious, "Don't even think about leaving me behind."

He smiled, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Soon enough he was waiting in the hangar with Sharp and his Squad in front of Talon's gunship. Razor, Wraith and their squad began walking toward the gunship. Talon's gunship was the only one leaving the ship, after all this was a delicate issue that didn't require an entire regiment. "She's late sir, approximately five minutes late" informed Razor.

"Heard from the arms master at armory that she picked it clean," said Data.

"Clean? Shab…" started Rain.

"Yeah, she doesn't need help to be scary."

"Please, there's no way she can get any scarier…"

"Want a bet?"

"She'll be here," he said, turning to Razor. As if on cue, from the elevator emerged Agent Helena Deviss, clad in the armored body suit of Mk II ARC armor, two disruptors in thigh holsters and a single short barreled Verpine Shatter Rifle slung across her back. Rain looked at Data.

"Told you so," said Data as he patted his Rain's shoulder pauldron.

Nyles smiled. Helena looked good. "Let's go," Nyles ordered. With everyone on board the gunship took off toward the planet. Once in atmosphere it linked up with the gunship Skywalker, Kenobi and Tano were aboard and headed toward the Naboo Royal Palace.

The two gunships landed in the hangar, in front of three figures. C3PO, a Naboo security officer and some female Gungan. The doors opened and they stepped out. The Naboo ran toward the Jedi, "General Kenobi, Anakin, we're so glad that we"

Anakin cut him off, "Where's Senator Amidala?"

"She went to look for the lab," said the Naboo, his tone slightly apologetic.

"And you let her go?!" asked Anakin, his tone accusing.

"Senator Padme can be very hard to stop once she has made up her mind," reminded Skywalker's protocol droid.

"Good point, I know what you mean," said Anakin, looking away.

"This is Peppi Bow," he said gesturing to the Gungan. "She was the last person to see them. Padme sent her here to safety."

The Gungan took a step forward "Theysa looking for the sick maker."

"They?" asked Kenobi.

"Representative Binks was with her," said the Naboo, gravely. Anakin's R2 unit let out a concerned beep. He was concerned too, that Representative was a complete utreekov. He had no idea how to do anything and he had an uncanny talent to throw a spanner in the works of even the most well thought of plans.

Anakin turned toward Ahsoka, "Go with the Gungan, see if you can find her."

Helena stepped forward, "Ahsoka Tano, I presume?" Both Obi Wan and Anakin turned toward her, wondering who she was. Obi Wan frowned for a moment before he smiled. Shab, Shab, Shab! Why Blade, why? Before anything happened he stepped forward.

"This is Agent Gorgeou—Deviss," he stopped himself short and corrected himself, "Agent _Deviss_. She, uh, was tracking a member of the Perma crime family who was in possession of a lot of illegal medical equipment. I thought her experience would be useful."

The Naboo gave him a strange look, as did Anakin. But Obi Wan, he just smiled. "Right."

Deviss turned toward Anakin, "I'll go with your Padawan, see what we can find." With that the two of them walked off with the Gungan.

"Why didn't you send someone to look for them?" asked Anakin after his Padawan was out of earshot.

"Considering the latest developments, I thought it was best to wait for you."

"What latest developments?" asked Obi Wan.

Before long, they were standing in front of holotable, looking through the contents of the memory banks of one of the droids the Naboo had found and neutralized. "Who's that?" asked Obi Wan.

"Dr. Nuvo Vindi, senior medic for the Perma families. He disappeared around 10 years ago. It seems Republic Intelligence was able to track him."

"That's where you're wrong. According to Agent Deviss, the Perma crime family is working with the Separatists. If Nuvo is working with the Separatists, then we have to assume that they have a plan to weaponise it, if they haven't already."

Obi Wan nodded, "Play the recording."

"Good news my soulless automotive friends, we now have enough of the Blue Shadow virus to start filling the bombs."

"He said, 'bombs,'" repeated a concerned C3PO.

"We will only need to send one bomb to each key star system. Work quickly, I want them ready to deliver - "

"If those bombs get delivered we'll be facing a galaxy wide plague, the war will be the least of our worries," said Kenobi.

"There is some good news," said the Naboo Security Captain as he displayed an image, "Senator Amidala found the lab. She gave us the coordinates before she disappeared. We've managed to get a geo scan of the area. Looks like there are three entrances," he said, pointing to three different locations. "Here, here and here. This appears to be the mainline."

"And the bombs?" asked Obi Wan.

"We have detected an above average amount of radiation in this area," he said, gesturing to a point on the map. "It's likely where they're being assembled."

"If Padme has alerted them to our presence in any way…" started Obi Wan. He agreed, a compromised operation would result in more death than was necessary.

"If Padme is in there, and we go in guns a' blazing, then she may get killed."

"It is a risk we have to take. Dr. Vindi and those bombs must not leave that lab."

"And if they, or we, detonate one during the attack?"

"Better to have one planet infected than the entire galaxy."

Nyles cut in, "The lab would likely have a safety feature, allowing it to be sealed off. My men and I have a self-contained recyclable air supply that should last us a while. We could…seal the lab and wipe out any droids that try to escape."

Obi Wan nodded, "Hopefully, it will never come to that."

**Agent Helena Deviss**

"So, Agent Deviss I never did get your first name..." asked Ahsoka as the shaak walked across the landscape.

"Helena."

"Helena, huh?"

"Yes. Is that what you want to call me?"

"Helena? I don't know, seems a bit long."

"Maybe Agent Deviss will do then."

"How about Haley?"

"Do you know how long it was since someone called me that?"

"No."

She smiled, "I was about your age."

"What happened after?"

"Academy, you stop getting to know people that well when you sign up for Republic Intelligence."

"Why?"

"Never turn your back on anyone. It ends badly."

"So when did you meet Nyles?"

"Why does it matter?"

"We're stuck here on this shaak. You'd prefer awkward silence?"

"I suppose that makes sense. I met Nyles in a training program for members of the different service branches to better integrate with one another. He was the Mandalorian with the amazing Naval Academy scores," she started.

"And you were the pretty agent from Alderaan. You said your time in the academy left you with a somewhat inability to trust people. But something about him…"

"We got along really well, he wasn't at all what I thought he was going to be like..." she stopped herself short. "Why am I having this conversation with you?"

"Because I wanted to call you Haley and then you mentioned the Academy," offered Ahsoka.

"Yeah, fine. You can call me Haley, but this conversation is over."

"Oh come on, who else are you going to talk to this about?" She gave Ahsoka a look "It doesn't seem like you have many friends. Or at least ones you can talk about this kind of thing to."

"I don't suppose you would be able to name some friends of yours off the top of your head?"

"Well…"

"To answer your question, there was no one who I cared to keep in touch with. It's not exactly a job that encourages you to make friends, makes me wonder how we've had a conversation this long."

For a while the silence persisted until the shaak stopped. Of course, riding a shaak was not the way she pictured getting to the last place the Senator and Representative were seen. "Thesa ship belonging to them," said the Gungan, pointing at a parked ship at the edge of the swamp. Getting off the shaak, both she and Ahsoka looked around.

"Their tracks end here," said Ahsoka looking at the ground where two pairs of boot prints suddenly seemed to stop. A whirring sound from behind her caused her to wheel around, looking at the ground she could see a camera. "Peppi, don't move!" ordered Ahsoka. "It's a scope, don't let them see you," said Ahsoka as she moved around the scope animatedly. She merely took small purposeful steps whenever required. With a quick dive, Ahsoka threw both the Gungan Peppi and herself behind the large root of a nearby tree. With a quick leap, she joined them as well.

"Well, this is definitely Vindi's lab," she said, looking at the Locris Syndicated Securities Camera.

"Well the pressure sensors might have given it away but what makes you so sure?"

"Locris Syndicated Securities Cameras, the Seppies do love their Locris products."

"Locris huh? Hate to repeat myself, but what makes you say that?"

"I was in a pair of Locris stun cuffs the other day," she said looking around, trying not to meet Ahsoka's eye.

"Locris stun cuffs? That's where the Admiral went!" she concluded, and very correctly she might add.

"If I didn't know you were a Jedi, then I'd have thought you were in Republic Intelligence as well."

"Whoa, what happened?"

"I met our good doctor's boss, we had a disagreement and he threw me in a pair of stun cuffs, no big issue."

Ahsoka was giving her a weird look, "I'm sure. Hey Haley?"

"Yeah?"

"Mandalorians in scuffed besk-"

She stopped Ahsoka right there, "Don't even. "

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Where are they?" asked Anakin, clearly on edge.

"Patience. You seem a little bit on edge," said Obi Wan, sitting on a crate in the hangar.

"There's a good chance that we're going to destroy all life on the planet, including ours _and_the senator's. So _yes_, I'm a little on edge. Why aren't you?"

"I'm just better at hiding it."

"If they're COM silent, General Skywalker, there must be a reason," Nyles pointed out.

They all heard a voice through their COM units, "Master, are you there?"

"Did you find her?" asked an anxious Anakin.

"Negative, I'm pretty sure she's inside the lab. The whole area is wired with pressure sensors. There's no way to get in without being detected. But I'm more than happy to..."

Obi Wan cut her off, "Do not attempt to get inside. I need you to detonate a bunker bomb at the south end of the facility, it should seal off the bomb room while we come in through the hatches."

"You can count on me."

"Rex and his men will be right behind you Snips, and then there's Agent Deviss. They'll have your back."

Anakin turned toward Obi Wan and Nyles, "Come on, we've got to hurry." Nyles nodded, signaling to Sharp and his men and pulling his rifle off of his back.

As they all were heading toward their respective gunships Obi Wan spoke, "Padme may be missing, Anakin, but don't compromise the mission by trying to save her. I'll take care of the bombs, you focus on the doctor."

"General Kenobi, we may find that the doctor and Padme are in the same place," Nyles said.

"Stick to the plan Admiral, you and your men draw the droid's attention with Ahsoka, while we accomplish our objectives," right before he stepped onto the gunship he turned around, "Of course, do try and make yourself free in case any of us need help."

He turned around to Sharp and rest of the men assembled, "All right vode, the Jetiise need us to keep the droids off their shebs while they play with the doctor. It won't be easy, but I trust you. Remember, the galaxy is depending on us today." He really wished he had got Helena a sealed helmet now.

**Agent Helena Deviss**

Helena watched as Ahsoka waited until the droid pressure sensor activated scopes retreated into the ground and Peppi's shaak was safe. Ahsoka levitated the bomb in her hand and turned toward her, she nodded. Ahsoka moved the bomb until it reached its assigned area and dropped it, "Now!"

Looking up they could see four gunships streaking overhead, one of them being a MAAT/SOH. "Meesa come with you."

Ahsoka turned toward Peppi, "No. Stay here and make sure no one escapes." As they sprinted toward the hatch, weapons in hand she turned toward Ahsoka.

"Make sure no one escapes?" she asked.

"What? It's the best thing I could think off." As troopers zip lined into the hole she and Ahsoka jumped in. As Ahsoka landed she started slicing the droids that came to attack them. Pulling out her dual disruptors she unleashed a blistering barrage on the oncoming droids.

"Forward, forward!" called out Captain Rex, as he and his men pushed forward.

She saw two destroyers coming and while she destroyed one with a hail of bolts, the other still got close enough to deploy. "Fall back!" ordered Ahsoka.

"Udesii," she said to the troopers, "I've got this!" pulling a reverse polarity grenade off of her belt she threw it at the droid. The grenade went off and electricity arced all over it. She walked up to it and put a bolt in its head.

"Kandosii" breathed one of the troopers.

Just then the roof caved in and onto the wreckage dropped General Kenobi, "Need some help?"

"A second ago, yes. But we've got this, right Haley?" asked Ahsoka. She just smiled.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Watch your flank!" called out Razor to one of his men. They were holding one of the junctions that led to where Skywalker's position.

"Data, time till I have my turrets?"

"Another minute, tops! Why aren't we just holding this position the old fashioned way?"

"Because I have a feeling Skywalker has a tough decision to make and he might need our help!"

Data nodded, "Shab, okay. I've got this." Right as they finished the next wave of droids Data's turrets activated. "Done!"

"Good, activate your camouflage and follow me!" with that they moved until they could see the lab door cut open with a lightsaber. Inside was Anakin and his troops, their arms raised in the air, droids pointing weapons at them. As they silently stepped into the room they heard the doctor speak.

"How about capture me, or save your friends?" He began passing out targets to his men as he walked up to the doctor.

Nyles raised the butt of his rifle above the doctor's head and decloaked, "How about both?" he asked, slamming the butt of the rifle into the doctor's head. Right then his men decloaked and opened fire, shredding the droids in the room.

"Admiral, didn't expect to see you here," Padme said.

"Are you okay?" Nyles asked.

"Yes, your timing was impeccable," Padme smiled.

He scoffed, "That's the thanks we get, eh vode?" he said, turning toward him men.

"Speaking of which, who's holding your previous position?" asked Skywalker

Data spoke up, "That would be my boys, Lords Firdilain, Girdilain and Hirdilain." Both Anakin and the Senator looked very confused.

Nyles decided to clarify, "We set up turrets to hold the position."

Data nodded, "They do have names, sir. But on the other hand they have to total of 14 kills on average each."

Obi Wan's voice buzzed in over their helmets, "Admiral, Anakin, we've found the bomb room."

"You're too late Jedi!" screamed the doctor from where he lay on the ground as one of his men walked over. The trooper in question raised his rifle cautiously. "Now we all die!" He hit a button on his wrist that Nyles could only guess activated some horrible device.

"Did you capture the doctor?" asked Obi Wan, with alarm in his voice.

Anakin responded "Yes!"

"Well maybe you should watch him closer, because he has just activated the bombs!"

Nyles turned to Rain, "Go, they'll need all the help they can get." Rain nodded and left the room, heading to Obi Wan's position.

**Lieutenant Rain**

"General Kenobi, like you need all the help you can get."

"Lieutenant Rain? The Admiral said you would be coming. Let's get these bombs deactivated quick!"

Rain walked past several bomb squad troopers to take a bomb from the rack and he quickly began defusing it. Before long they were done with the bombs in the room until Commander Tano came into the room with Agent Deviss, "Quick, the Senator's found the last bomb, we need to defuse it!"

Without a word he, Captain Rex and another Bomb Squad trooper sprinted to where the Senator was. "Here it is!" she said, handing the bomb to the trooper.

"Careful now, don't want to end up like Corr," said one of the troopers to the one deactivating the bomb. As quickly as he could the trooper removed the panel and began separating the wires until he could cut the necessary ones.

With one bar left on the timer when it was finally deactivated he breathed a sigh of relief, "Deactivated, with plenty of time to spare." The Representative let out a series of strange sounds before he fainted. Oh well, their job was done here.

"Ahsoka, are you there?" came Skywalker's voice through Commander Tano's COM.

"I'm here Master, the bomb has been deactivated."

"Kinda the reason we're all alive," he said, getting looks from the others.

"Have you seen Padme?" asked General Skywalker.

"She's right next to me," Nyles said. "I'm okay too, thanks for asking."

Agent Deviss smiled, "Its better when they don't ask, trust me." Rain remembered their rescue of Agent Deviss not a day ago and understood what she was talking about. It usually meant that the person trusted that you could take care of yourself, or that they were overly concerned about your wellbeing. Hmm, did that mean that Skywalker had feelings for the Senator? Nah, that made no sense. He was a Jedi, no attachments and all that osik. "Well, I had better get going. Someone has to take Vindi to Coruscant, and I have several reports to finish writing. It's been a pleasure working with you Ahsoka, your Master should be proud."

"Thanks Haley," said Ahsoka as Agent Deviss left the room.

The Senator looked at Ahsoka, "Who was that?"

"Oh, just your friendly neighborhood Republic Intelligence Agent."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Nyles walked toward the landing pad where the Jedi were standing with Helena, he had left Sharp down there to clean up, telling him that he would see Helena off and head back down. "Nyles, this is Sharp, the droids have one of the virus vials!" Nyles heart sank, the droids had one of the vials? How? "Sharp, I don't have to tell you how bad things are going to if you don't find that droid and that vial!"

"Of course you don't, but whatever you do, don't come back down here!"

"The hell I won't!"

"Don't be a utreekov, we can handle this. And if we can't, then nobody else needs to die today. Going COM silent." Nyles felt sick, how could he leave one of his closest friends like this? How? At least both his men and the bomb squad troopers had the upgraded armor that allowed them to stay safe from the virus for a while.

"The virus is liberated," Vindi laughed, "You are doomed young Jedi. Along with the rest of the planet. "

Helena walked up to him and grabbed him by the neck, "For your sake, you had better hope not!"

"Nyles, they've released the virus!" came Sharp's voice.

"Shab, get the other troopers to safety. They won't be much use to you dead. Once you can find the droids you get into one of the rooms, vent it and stay alive."

"That's the plan, get that di'kut doctor to Theed or wherever and do what you do best. Sharp out."

Anakin activated his lightsaber, "Where's the antidote?" he demanded. Vindi just glared. "Don't play dumb with me Vindi," threatened Anakin, Helena still had him by the throat.

"You mistake my role Jedi, my role was to manufacture plague, not to cure it."

"We don't have time for games," threatened Anakin.

"Patience Anakin," urged Obi Wan "There's more than one way to skin a womp rat."

"I said where!?" said Anakin again.

"Yes, kill me now and spare these old bones the blue shadow virus' embrace. Because once the first droid escapes from that laboratory, then all of Naboo is doomed."

Helena unsheathed her knife, "Who said anything about killing you?"

"Torture? You wouldn't do that," said Vindi. Nyles sighed, 'Oh dear, this could get entertaining.'

"Agent Deviss," started Obi Wan.

"If you have a problem General Kenobi, leave the shuttle," she said. Obi Wan sighed. "You remember your boss, Tuvoc Rinod?" Vindi didn't say anything but simply swallowed. "Yeah well the two of us had a less than pleasant encounter. The only reason we had that encounter was because I was looking for you. Well guess what? You're right here, and I would like to give you a taste of what I had." She drove the blade into Vindi's arm, causing him to scream. "What. Is. The. Antidote?" she asked.

"I don't know!" screamed Vindi.

"You're lying. Tell me doctor how long do you want to live?" She pulled her knife out of his arm and raised it again after shaking his blood off of it.

"Reekso!" he screamed. "Reekso root, found on the planet Iego. Please don't stab me again." She turned toward Nyles.

"Iego, do you know where that is?"

"I have an idea." He said.

"Alright, then what are we waiting for?" asked Anakin.

"I agree, let's take a gunship back to Theed with this hutuune and then we can figure out how to do this" said Nyles.

"What are you talking about? Ahsoka needs our help, Rex needs our help. They don't have much time…"

"My men are down there too. They don't have much time either, but there is a certain process to things."

Anakin nodded and after Helena dragged him from the seat they walked onto the landing pad and into Talon's gunship.

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

"We need to get to the safe room!" called out Captain Rex as they sprinted. Sharp and his men ran as fast as they could as well to the safe room. As they got there the door was beginning to close, Commander Tano held the door open.

"Go," she said struggling to hold the door open with the force. Rex and his men ran first, they were the priority, after all they didn't have the recyclable air supply. The virus however was fast approaching, and they had nothing that could stop it. Sharp saw that all of Rex's men were in, but Commander Tano was not, and she wouldn't be able to get there on time. He sprinted, activating his Jet Pack as he jetted with her into the next room right as the door closed behind them just in time. He continued flying and he deactivated his jetpack, dropping Commander Tano and skidding across the floor.

He picked himself up, "Flare, are you receiving me?"

"Sir, no option for you to get out I take it?"

"Not without infecting the others. Link up with the Bomb Squad, find that Senator and keep the droids from escaping. I guess we'll just sit this one out." Sharp dropped his rifle and turned to one of the troopers. "Scan this room for the virus."

"None of the virus made it in with us Commander, we're safe."

"Good."

**Captain Flare**

"Senator, Captain Flare, are you sure you want to do this?"

"It's the least I can do Captain," she looked at the blast door behind them. "Is Padawan Tano safe?"

"Commander Sharp, Captain Rex and the rest of his men are safe inside with Commander Tano."

"Alright, let's do this" she said. Data handed her one of his Westar M8 PDWs.

They pushed on until they could see several droids ahead. He had split up his team so that it was the Senator and The Representative with him and the rest of Squad 14 and the bomb squad while Razor, Wraith and their squads moved on their own. "We should take the North Captain, send the other team to the South." Flare had to admit it, that was a sound strategy.

"Razor, head around the South side, we'll take the North."

"You got it Flare." The saw the droids clustered around the ladders and they opened fire, shredding the droids. Flare ran toward the ladder and saw one of the droids trying to open the hatch. Without even thinking he opened fire and killed the droid. He made sure to be careful to just hit the droid. Hitting anything else might have caused problems.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Coming out of Hyperspace!" called out Blade "Scanners report no Separatist contacts so far sir."

"Good, prep a gunship, we're leaving" he turned toward Obi Wan and Anakin "Come on."

"This is an impressive ship Admiral, but are you sure it's wise bringing it out here into the middle of Separatist controlled space?" asked Obi Wan.

"I see no problem," he said as they stepped into the bridge elevator "we're already at war with them."

Anakin nodded, "I agree with the Admiral."

Obi Wan nodded as well, "Yes, he does have a good point."

Soon they reached the hangar bay and he stepped out of the elevator with Anakin and Obi Wan. Already waiting near the gunship was Helena, with a small squad of clones. "You ready?" she asked.

Skywalker stepped on, "I was ready since we dropped that sleemo Vindi at Theed." Helena ignored the fact that she had not asked him.

"Take us in Talon," he said.

"Yes sir!" He watched the doors closing and noted the usual pull that the gunships had on you when they left the atmospheric containment fields of a starship. The gunship flew past a large portion of debris.

As they were looking out of the view port Anakin spoke, "What do you make of this?

"It looks like a graveyard of ships," returned Kenobi.

As they flew in they could see the city, it was built high, but it still appeared to be dead. There was no signs that there was even anyone even living there. "Sir, scanners indicate droids near the landing pad."

"Droids? Shoot them Lieutenant," ordered Anakin.

"Sir, they don't seem to be hostile. Scanners indicate that they aren't even armed."

"This makes no sense."

Nyles sighed, why couldn't things be normal? "Set us down Talon, we'll handle it. Whatever _it_is." The troop bay doors opened and the squad of Special Operations Clones fanned out their weapons scanning the area. They kept their weapons trained on the hoard of un armed battle droids. They seemed like they were cobbled together from spares, these weren't Separatist droids.

"Welcome to Iego, the venerable Jaybo Hood requests an audience."

"Jaybo?" said both Anakin and Obi Wan at the same time.

"Clone troopers, gunships, you guys are from the Republic aren't you? What are you doing out here?" said a child that walked out from between the droids.

"You're Jaybo?" asked Obi Wan.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Where'd you get all these Battledroids?"

"When the Separatists left the plant, they left all this junk behind. There's a whole warehouse full of them if you want."

Anakin was looking the droids over, "Looks like you used a macro protocol to wipe them all simultaneously. That's impressive."

"You know your droids. You want to show me how I did it?"

"Perhaps another time, what we need now is Reekso root. Do you know where we can find some?"

"Here, there, everywhere."

"We don't have time for games kid, where's the root."

Helena spoke up, "Remind me to never have kids."

Nyles smiled, "I don't know, I kinda like kids."

"How much time do you spend around children exactly?"

"Same could be asked of you."

"I spend time around you, don't I?"

Obi Wan spoke, "What my friend is trying to say is that we are in a bit of a hurry."

"Not anymore you're not."

Anakin was annoyed at this point, "Look you little…"

"This system is haunted, cursed, whatever. Anyway, Jedi or not, no one gets off this rock alive. Not past Droll."

A nearby droid shrieked in terror, "Droll!?"

"Droll?" asked Kenobi.

"Yeah, Droll. The phantom ruler of Iego. He destroys anything that leaves the planet. Fifty of the best star pilots in the galaxy tried. Fifty tried, fifty died."

"I suppose that explains the ruined ships in the moon belt."

"First things first, we'll have to deal with this Droll later."

Soon they were on a gunship headed to the depths of the city. "Well, this is entertaining," let out Obi Wan.

"How so?" asked Anakin.

"I've just never done something like this before."

"What did Jaybo say about the roots?"

"That the plants have big sharp teeth?"

One of his troopers spoke up, "With respect General, that doesn't matter when your packing as much firepower as we are."

The gunship hovered and Anakin and Kenobi walked around until they could find a root and all was fine until Anakin tripped on a vine. "Why?" asked Nyles aloud. "Prepare to open fire!" Right on cue the heads of several carnivorous plants appeared, causing him, the troopers, Helena and the gunship to open fire. With little effort the plants were put down and the Jedi were on board.

"Nice work Nyles!" said Anakin.

"Well, have you got the root?"

"Yes."

"Then let's not outstay our welcome." The gunship flew upward, breaking atmosphere and was approaching the debris field. "I guess we find out if the kid was telling the truth."

"The ghost of Droll may be a local superstition, but something real blew up those ships."

"Real, we can handle."

"I've got a bad feeling about this sir," came Talon's voice over the intercom. True enough the second they passed the asteroids, Talon's scanners lit up. "Sir, detecting power surges from the asteroids."

"Shab it's a laser defense grid."

"Laser defense grid?" asked Anakin. "Well that explains it."

"Blade this is Nyles, I need you to hit the Asteroids with everything we have and I needed it done yesterday!"

"Yes sir!" Blade had obviously reached the same conclusion.

"Talon, get us out of here!"

Talon's response came in over the intercom "Trying sir, trying!" Talon threw the gunship into a series a maneuvers as the _Liberty_ pulverized the asteroids with its heavy weaponry. Nyles grabbed onto a handhold as the gunship collided with some debris. "Shields down to 80%."

"Stay the course!" he ordered.

After another series of maneuvers the gunship finally exited the laser grid, which at this point was mostly non-functioning. Even as they headed toward the _Liberty_'s landing bay, its weapons continued to wipe out the emitters. Nyles was sure that once they made the jump to light speed the people of Iego would be free once more.

**General Jango Fett**

"So the situation on Naboo is sorted out Nyles?"

"Yes 'Alor, all sorted out. The facility has been purged and those who are infected are going to make a full recovery. Fortunately there were only a couple of our vode who were infected, the 501st will have to deal with four of their men for a couple of days."

"Excellent work as always. Nyles?"

"Yes 'Alor."

"Sharp and I had a conversation."

"What about?"

"About your ability to talk to women."

"Damn it Sharp. Uh, yes. Could you, um, help me...not be...all...awkward...?"

"I've taken down an entire ship of Death Watch, I've killed Jedi with my bare hands, I've stared down Sith Lords and I trained an entire company of Special Forces soldiers who were all essentially me. I'm confident I can help you with this. I'll see you on Coruscant."

Nyles smiled, "Thanks 'Alor. That means a lot to me."

"Any time Nyl'ika, any time."

**Till next time…**


	9. Chapter 9 - The War Progresses

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 9 – The War Progresses

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Exiting Hyperspace in 3, 2 and 1!" called out Blade.

"Sound the General Quarters alert," said Nyles, assessing the fleet around Ryloth. Enough lives had died defending Ryloth. He had known Admiral Dao, and the number of troopers that had died here were far more than he would have liked. The Senate should have acted faster, should have sent them in before the situation went to hell.

The sound of the General Quarters alert brought him out of his thoughts, "All personnel, man your stations! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill!" Looking out from the bridge view port, Nyles could see the Republic Fleet in position around him; thee Venators in arrow formation, with the _Liberty_at the rear of the arrow. This was a formidable formation and looking at the Separatist Fleet ahead, he was confident that they would be able to break this blockade. It was made of two Munificent Frigates which the Venators would easily crush and a single Lucrehulk. Nyles knew that reinforcements would be inbound soon, which is why he planned to engage from range until they did.

Thinking about the previous plan to send out a single squadron led by Commander Tano while the rest of the fleet lay in wait was so ludicrous that he had shut it down immediately. This was a far better plan, overreliance on fighters was the biggest mistake anyone could make. "Blade, order the Venators to open fire on the Munificents, open up on that Lucrehulk with our long range guns. Send Arrow 1, 2 &amp; 3 into the void tell them to keep the fighters off us. Deploy our fighters and the Jedi's, only and only if they need assistance."

"Got it sir! Arrow 1 – 3, proceed with deployment! Arm long range Disruptors, Plasma and Ion cannons!" Nyles watched as the two Munificent's shields dropped under the barrage on the Venator's Heavy Dual Turbolaser Cannons. "Sir, they've launched their fighters!"

"Arm our MPACs, prepare to assist Arrows with fighter screening!" Vulture droids mushroomed into explosives the moment they entered the range of the MPACs and the weapons of the _Arrow-class_gunboats. It was at that moment that the Separatist reinforcements chose to rear their heads. Six Munificent Frigates exited Hyperspace in front of the Venators. "Shift fire, take out those Munificents, all weapons!" Both medium and long range weaponry on the _Liberty_ opened fire on the Munificents, some of which had not even raised their shields. The lead two ships were obliterated by the hail of heavy weapons fire. The next line was completely devastated by Ion weaponry and then torn to shreds by the Plasma Hybrid cannons. The rear line raised its shields which took a heavy beating from the Heavy Long Range disruptors on the _Liberty_.

The Venators which had long finished with their original targets opened fire on the stricken ships, causing their shields to drop and eventually disintegrate under the weight of fire from the Heavy Turbolasers. "Sir, all frigates destroyed, should we concentrate fire on the Lucrehulk?"

"Send it to hell."

All the weapon mounts on every ship in the fleet turned forward and fired. The hail of fire was so much that the bridge viewport had to be dimmed. The multicolored display of deadly energy and particles streaked toward the Lucrehulk and effortlessly dropped its shields and began taking chunks of it off. Before long the outer ring of the ship broke into two from the shear fire power of the Republic Fleet. All that was left was a coreship that had explosions mushrooming all over it.

"Sir, message from General Skywalker." He nodded and walked over to the Holocom on the bridge.

"I have to say Nyles, that was a good plan. No casualties and yet we wiped out the entire blockade."

"Sometimes superior firepower gets the job done. Those Munificents pack a punch, but their shields aren't worth much at all. All we had to do it attack them from outside their engagement range. The Venator's DBY-827 heavy dual Turbolaser turrets have a good range, there's no point in squandering it."

"That makes a lot of sense," he turned around to look at something. "Looks like Obi Wan is here."

"Ah, likely to being the ground assault."

The image of Obi Wan Kenobi appeared on the Holocom, "Anakin, Admiral, looks like the blockade over Ryloth is broken and with no losses. Good work you two, now get some rest. Master Windu and I will handle the ground invasion." Nyles cut the COM.

Blade turned toward him "Sir, are we getting some rest?" Nyles gave him a sarcastic look. "I'll inform Sharp."

**_Several Days Later_**

Eventually the Battle for Ryloth was won. The Separatists had stooped to using civilians as shields, while Shadow Regiment had alleviated the pressure on Kenobi and Windu's units, it was still the Jedi that finally took the capital in the end.

Not that Nyles cared. He wasn't in this for the glory. He was just doing his duty as a Mandalorian. Being back on Coruscant felt really good, though. He was going to talk to Jango about his…women problems, or as Jango put it, his Helena problems.

Of course, he was avoiding this. There was something else on his mind, and frankly it was not only on his mind it was on the dock master's, the Coruscant home fleet and anyone that was in orbit of the city planet. Right now there were several gunships flying out from the Liberty, as well as every fighter squadron it was home to. As those squadrons moved out, others flying identical ships took their place. In fact, next to the Liberty, there was another ship identical to it, her sister ship the _Gra'tua_.

Nyles was smiling thinking about the meeting with Naval Command. They were so happy that when the Liberty had single handedly broken the blockade over Christophsis they had immediately ordered production of a second ship, the _Gra'tua_, or Vengeance. When he met them, they had told him of exactly what had arrived in orbit of Coruscant. Nyles would have been shocked at the production speed if he didn't know that not only Kuat Drive Yards had worked on it, but Mandal Motors, Rendili Star Drives, Taim and Bak, even the Mon Calamari ship yards. The entire set of designs had been drawn up by him and the panel of students and experts at Republic Naval Academy were now part of a huge collaborative effort to produce a small fleet to test the effectiveness of those very ships, now that the effectiveness of the _Liberty_ was proven. The _Liberty_was in essence a tech demonstrator of the various technologies in the other ship designs and now that it had more than proven itself, the final green light was given.

He and his crew were being moved into the third ship in the small fleet, which was still strangely attached to General Skywalker. Guess being friends with the Chancellor had its benefits, that Jedi was lucky. The third ship was what all the chatter was about, and now he was going to see a vast majority of his work come to fruition. What lay in front of them was a huge seventeen point five kilometer long arrow shaped starship. Wing-like protrusions extended from the rear near the ships colossal sublight engines. "What. Is. That?" breathed Sharp as the gunship moved close enough to the ship.

"That? That is our new ship. May I introduce to you the _Cabur_, or _Guardian-class_Dreadnought."

"I was asking why there was a second _Liberty-class_battleship, but thank you for answering that question. It was my next."

Nyles let out a proud chuckle. "This, my vode, is experimental Battle group Defender. You already met some of the new additions to our forces, like the other three Regiments of Shadow _Legion,_the new squadrons. Let me tell you, this is going to become the standard for the army and the navy in the next year or two." Blade's jaw was on the floor and Razor was slapping his helmet in sudden realization.

"So, we're moving in to that thing?" asked Blade.

"Absolutely, I have a few surprises for you once we're aboard."

"More surprises? I don't think I can take what I'm already seeing, Nyles," said Sharp.

The gunships flew toward the cavernous hangar bay that was on the right side of the ship, which was mirrored on the other side and connected as well. As they flew toward it, they could see a huge deployment bay on the underside with four frigates held in place with clamps. The gunships set down in the hangar amongst the sea of maintenance workers, the doors opening with a hiss. As he stepped out with his men into the hangar they received salutes. Behind them more gunships, fighters, bombers and interceptors poured in after them.

Looking out the atmospheric containment shield he could see a similar exodus happening with the two _Liberty-class_battleships. "Come on, let's take a look at the deployment bays," Nyles said, almost giddy. His men followed, very words failing them. The walked toward the fighter storage/maintenance area where fighters were continuing to land. Joining the XF-20 _Tra/Void_star fighters were angled u-shaped _Beskad_interceptors. Blackout lead saluted him as he walked past. The walked past the bomber area, the gunship area and finally to the _Gata'dr/Phalanx-class_Assault Frigate deployment bay. Right now, the bay was pressurized so the doors opened with no complaint. "May I present the Phalanx-class Assault Frigate, 800 meters of Duranium armored death. Armed with Plasma Hybrid Cannons, MPACs, Baradium Missiles and a couple of Heavy Disruptors– this thing spits death. It's fitted with a shield generator built to take the heaviest of hits while the ships hits just as hard back."

Blade rubbed a faux tear from underneath his eye, "Sir…it's beautiful."

"Isn't it?" he asked.

Data nodded, "Not bad, not bad. But do you have something that it's a little more terrestrial?"

"Data, I thought you'd never ask." Walking toward the ground vehicle storage bays they walked over to some modified AT-TEs which was the unit's current ground assault vehicle. While it packed an MPAC, and plasma hybrid weapons as well as a shield generator and extra plating he understood that they wanted some new vehicles, but they were about to be surprised. Also passing the unit's AT-XT walkers he finally reached a large tank with dual cannons and an angular almost stretched pentagonal turret housing. "May I give you the _Bha'lir_ Main Battle Tank. Armed with dual 150mm Electromagnetic Plasma Cannons, dual turreted disruptor repeaters and an active threat defense system that can destroy anything from a shoulder mounted missile to an air dropped proton bomb as well as packing Beskar plated armor. Downside is its shield generator is a little underpowered, but the armor should do fine."

Rain walked over and hugged the tank, "Oh, where have you been all my life?"

"Armor workshop on Keldabe from the looks of the shipping manifest," said Data. Suddenly they heard the reports of heavy footfalls and all of them turned around to see a box shaped cabin on a turreted bottom supported by four huge legs. Data gave a shrill screech.

"Orar 1-1, reporting for duty Admiral," said an loudspeaker amplified voice.

"Ah, how could I forget. _Orar-class_Assault Walker. Armed with Baradium missile launcher, repeating disruptors and quad 110mm Accelerated Electromagnetic Plasma Cannons. That's not to count heavy shield generators and Beskar armor plating."

"You're lucky I don't have my mines on me," said Data looking at the walker. Everyone laughed they just knew that Data was sour because everyone had heard him screech.

"Come on vode, let me show you the other features of the ship." He took them to the new mess halls, the new quarters, the new officers mess and was about to take them to the Captain's Quarters when he saw Jango Fett step out of them. He turned around, walking in the opposite direction. 'Damn it, Sharp... Damn it, Sharp...'

"Nyles!"

Nyles swiveled back around. "Oh, hi, 'Alor. I didn't see you coming..." He signaled to his men that they were dismissed.

"I saw you turn around."

"I thought I forgot something?"

"...I taught you how to lie better than that," Jango said, waving for Nyles to walk with him. "So how are things?"

"Things are fine..." Nyles said.

"And how's that agent you rescued? Deviss, right?"

"Jango...What did Sharp tell you?"

"Nothing. Gossip spreads like wildfire, even among Jedi," Jango shrugged. "Zey might've mentioned that he heard about a certain admiral and an agent maybe possibly having something."

"It's nothing."

"If it was nothing, why are you blushing?"

Nyles crossed his arms over his chest. "...I don't know how to... I want to... Helena...I need help."

"Tell me you only stuttered or something."

"I might've panicked and tried to break into her room."

"Rule Number One: Don't be a kriffing di'kut."

"Easier said than done...?" Nyles said ruefully.

"Agreed," Jango chuckled. "If you didn't notice, my son is a clone."

"Like you've ever had trouble with women..."

"You'd be surprised..."

"So, are you ready for that talk?"

"And for that drink, you're buying, right 'Alor?" asked Nyles, remembering their agreement.

"You need this talk, so I hope that you stay sober enough to hear it, am I understood?"

"Of course 'Alor."

An hour, two plates of nuna drumsticks and several mugs of ale later, the conversation was nearing its end. Of course Jango hadn't bought the drinks, it was his ship, how could he ask Jango to pay? "Okay, just to recap," Nyles started. "Don't be an idiot. Be myself, because I didn't behave any differently before when we were just friends. Don't break into her room with a disruptor under any circumstances. Did I miss anything?"

"No, I think that's it," Jango said. "Oh, and when Sharp reminds you to stop being an idiot, listen."

"Got it. I'll go and forget next time I talk to her, though."

Jango chuckled. "That's just what happens, Nyles. No reflection on you."

"Thanks, Jango..." Nyles said.

"Thanks for the nuna drumsticks, and Mandal Motors asked me to tell you to treat the ship well. I had better be off now, you're due at Felucia soon." With that Jango was gone, leaving Nyles to think about what had been said. Well, at least it made sense.

As soon as Jango had left the room, Sharp decloaked. "How long have you been there? The whole time?"

"Pretty much," said Sharp picking up the last drumstick on the plate.

"And your conclusion detective?"

"General Fett really knows how to give talks."

"Like he said, he's killed an entire ship of Death Watch, stared down Sith Lords and killed Jedi with his bare hands. This was a cake walk for him."

"Come on Nyles, we have to go and save the Jetii's shebs, again."

Nyles smiled and put his helmet back on as they headed out of the Officer's Mess, walking toward the elevator that headed toward the bridge. Lucky for them, it was located almost directly underneath, albeit several decks. Stepping onto the bridge he could see the vastness of the bridge. It was the same standard as bridges on all Republic ships, higher platform for the Commander to walk on with lower areas for the crew men to work. Of course there were several times more consoles than what he was used to, there were considerably more systems than on the _Liberty_, or any other ship that he had served on for that matter.

Blade walked in behind him, "Sorry sir, almost got lost. Orders?"

"Inform the rest of the group, make ready to jump to Felucia. Put Basilisk on alert, tell Aurek flight to get their gunships into the air. Remember, the second we break that blockade, this becomes a rescue mission." Blade nodded and got to work ordering the various personnel to get moving. A series of "Sir, yes sir!" shouts echoed throughout the bridge.

Nyles watched as the two Republic battleships moved into place off his port and starboard. "_Gra'tua_, checking in Admiral."

"_Liberty_, hyperdrive charged. Just give the word sir."

"All call signs prepare for Hyperspace jump."

All three ships accelerated toward the systems edge. As the ship moved it managed to keep pace with the smaller Republic battleships, just like the beefy Kuat Drive Yards engines were supposed to. Mandal Motors had made the maneuvering thrusters which required considerable more thrust output than normal ships, owing to the Beskar / Duranium plating. It was Beskar over a layer of Duranium, meaning that this ship could take a serious beating once its eight shield generators finally gave up the ghost.

Armed with the most advanced weapons the Republic could field; all manner of Baradium missiles, an MPAC network, Extreme Range Single Heavy Disruptor Cannons, Long Range Heavy Quad Disrupts Cannons, Medium Range Dual Disruptor Cannons, Long Range Octuple Heavy Ion Cannons, Medium Range Ion Cannons, Long Range Quad Heavy Plasma Hybrid Cannons, Medium Range Dual Plasma Hybrid Cannons, Short Range Heavy Beam Cannons and a Fusion Accelerated Turbolaser Cannon.

The FATC on this ship was essentially a huge barreled Turbolaser. But because the bolt could be destabilized purposely it could be used either as a fleet killer or a city leveler. A devastating, horrifying weapon that could only be used on a foe like the CIS.

"Blade?" he asked.

"Yes sir?"

"Warm up long ranged weapons, prepare to start hitting that blockade the second we drop out of Hyperspace."

"Sir."

Soon the lights on the bridge went off signifying that they were about to drop out of Hyperspace soon. "Coming out of Hyperspace in 3, 2 1! Weapons hot, opening fire! _Gra'tua_ and _Liberty_ opening fire as well, Admiral."

"Good, just get us an opening and keep it open."

As the fleet approached the Separatist line gun mounts blazing. Three Separatist frigates disintegrated under the weight of the heavy weapons fire as disruptor bolts disabled their shields and tore their hulls to pieces. The MPAC network blew what remained of the Separatist fighter screen into smithereens as the gunships escorted by fighters and Jedi Master Plo Koon flew toward the planet surface. "Let's keep that hole open Blade, plug it."

The three ships moved into the hole created in the Separatist line, moving in perfect formation. It was oddly graceful for huge behemoth warships. "Sir, we're in knife fight range."

"Beam cannons, open fire!" he said. The downside to his beam cannons is that their range was rather short in comparison to the rest of the ship's arsenal. The beam cannons discharged, he watched two yellow beams blow a Separatist Munificent Frigate to pieces within seconds of firing. Satisfied that he had smashed through their defenses he got on the COM to the rest of the fleet and the gunships on their way to the surface, "This is Admiral Kote, we've broken through the blockade."

**_Back on Coruscant_**

For some di'kutla reason, the Jedi Council wanted Nyles to come talk to them about his new "super weapon" and how it should never be used except in the most dire of circumstances. Not that he had to report to them, but people generally avoided screwing around with the Jedi council. He eventually found out that someone else in Naval Command was supposed to go, but they had instead passed the buck to him.

He was walking around the Jedi temple with Squad 14 as his 'escort'. In reality he was safe here, it wasn't like anyone would confront him because his father was one of the Mandalorians responsible for some of the many Jedi deaths at Galidraan. Having just finished the meeting he was going to head to the hangar bay, but only after running into at least one of the Jedi that he knew. He had grown close to Anakin, Obi Wan and even Ahsoka during the recent events.

He saw Anakin and Ahsoka walking by, he had heard of what had happened with her during the evacuation and her resulting punishment. "Anakin, Ahsoka, nice to see you."

"What brings you to the Jedi Temple Admiral?" asked Ahsoka, trying to be courteous.

"It's about the very large Turbolaser on my ship, they're concerned about its misuse."

Anakin smiled, "Did you tell them the amount of Tibanna gas that thing uses?"

He smiled, "You know what? That's exactly what I told them." He turned to Ahsoka, "Realities of Command?"

"You could say that."

"First time we're given command of a unit, we all make mistakes. What makes a good leader is someone who's able to tell when fighting alongside his men is better, and when is it better to lead from afar. The best leader can do both. But to be the best, you have to get good first. Does that make any sense?"

"No, not really…" admitted Ahsoka.

"Yeah, me neither. It's what one of my instructors at the Academy said. Anyways, just understand that if you complete your assignment to the fullest extent of your ability it'll be over be before you know it."

"Your instructor at the academy?"

"You must be a Jedi or something." They both gave him a look and he turned and headed in the direction of the landing bay, smiling.

Soon he was back on the _Guardian_, sitting at the desk in the Captain's Cabin. Looking around the cabin, he smiled, who'd have thought he would have come this far. Well, a certain person had told him to call them the moment he was free and he was going to do just that. Tapping buttons on his COM unit the device eventually displayed Agent Helena Deviss.

"How is my favorite Republic Intelligence Agent today?"

"Reports, psych evals, usual crap after being captured by the enemy."

"I feel your pain…"

"Oh, I bet."

"You have no idea how many reports I had to sign after that incident with that bounty hunter."

"Better than having some psychiatrist check your mental faculties as if you've just had your head beaten in by a wookie."

"So you're in casuals which means that you have the rest of this day off. I was wondering if we could meet up, you know, do something."

"Do something? You mean like a date?"

"Yeah, a date, sure. I mean, you did kiss me. Not saying you're a liar, are you Agent?"

"It would be on my job description, but no. Not to you anyways... This is long overdue Nyles. So where?" The sound of another incoming transmission flowed out of the COM unit's speakers audibly enough for her to hear it. She sighed, "Duty calls?"

"Sadly, but don't go anywhere, we'll continue this conversation some other time. I mean, bringing in Vindi has to give some sorts of benefits right?"

"Goodbye Nyles." He gave her his best smile and cut the COM channel.

"Admiral? We need to stop a Separatist assault on the planet Devaron," said Anakin, the tone of urgency in his voice was obvious.

"I'll get mobilized."

"Roger that, see you at the system's edge."

"Anakin, what's this all about?"

"The Separatists have a holocron they can use to read the list of all the galaxy's force sensitive children, only the list is on Devaron with Jedi Master Bola Ropal. Republic forces have already reported a large fleet in orbit."

"Shab," he breathed "Alright, let's do this." Skywalker nodded and the COM link went dead. He stood up and grabbing his helmet on the way as well as his rifle he headed toward the bridge. It had become instinct for him to carry his rifle wherever he went. Stepping onto the bridge he got the attention of Blade.

"Sir, we have new orders?"

"Inform the others, we're heading to Devaron. Warm weapons and have ground assault forces ready. Tell them to be ready for anything."

"Sir, can be done." The bridge became a flurry of activity once more as the sleeping giant that was the Guardian was woken up. He felt his weight shift slightly as the engine's output went from zero to near maximum in several seconds in an effort to move the massive warship to the system's edge as quickly as possible. In the very least fast enough to catch up with the Venator moving to the system's edge right now. Turning out of their planetary orbit the two _Liberty-class_battleships did the same.

"This is battle group Defender, to Resolute, we are ready for Hyperspace jump" informed Blade. So, they had given him his own battle group after all. Blade turned to him, "Congratulations sir, I know we're still attached to General Skywalker, but…"

"It's fine Blade, and I appreciate wanting to keep it a surprise, but maybe next time tell me when something like this happens. We don't get a lot of occasions to celebrate."

"Of course sir." Nyles turned his attention back to the view afforded by the viewport and watched as the four Republic ships made the jump to Hyperspace. Time seemed to fly by faster than normal, but that was to be expected when they were all pumping with Adrenaline. Just watching the crew at work was amazing , to understand that sitting in this comparatively small room they ran the entire massive ship. Naval academy taught him that while the reactor of a ship was its living, beating heart the Bridge was its brain. The Guardian's heart was deep within her body, and she had redundant organs to back her up. The main bridge was under layers of Beskar plating and two emergency shield generators. If a ship's reactor and bridge was up then she could keep fighting for a very long time.

"Coming out of Hyperspace!" Nyles watched as the blue hue of Hyperspace was replaced with the blackness of the void. In front of them loomed the planet Devaron and the Separatist fleet.

"Send them to hell. Deploy our ground assault forces, get our Frigates out into the void."

"Sir, the gunships may not make it through."

"They're not trying to hold the planet Blade, they're trying to run."

"Of course sir, but…Right, they already likely have Master Ropal. Saving our vode, I like it sir." Nyles watched the four Phalanx Frigates take up positions around the ship. Gunships streaked out under heavy fighter and interceptor escort streaking toward the planet while the Separatist frigates were treated to a merciless barrage. Anyone who the fleet would see the single Venator backed up by two battleships and a dreadnaught all bearing non-regulation Mythosaur skulls on their hull tearing the Separatist fleet to pieces, if it wasn't a symbol of cooperation, then nothing was.

A crewman came up to him, "Sir, we got there just in time. Commander Ganch about to collapse the dam as a last ditch effort and we managed to save some of the base defenders." Nyles breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, now that their fleet is in pieces we need to get in contact with Skywalker and figure out how he wants to plan this rescue."

**Cad Bane**

"Uh sir, that Republic fleet just wiped out our escort and our troops on the planet. Its blocking our escape."

Bane looked at the display, that Mandalorian symbol was unmistakable. There was only one Mandalorian fleet officer and he still had his knife. "Admiral Kote, we meet again. Move us out of the battle zone and prepare to jump to Hyperspace. I have a small favor to ask of our Jedi guest."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Sir, that Separatist Frigate is trying to flee."

"Cripple that ship Blade."

He turned around and walked over to the Holocom, "Our Separatist friend is trying to leave the system, I have ion cannons ready to disable him."

"Ion Cannons? Excellent, that way we don't have to risk damage to the ship."

"So, how do you want to board that thing?"

"Uh, not sure."

He sighed, "Let's do it the old fashioned way. I'll ready my gunships."

"I like the way you think Nyles. Will you be joining us?"

"Someone has to make sure that ship stays disabled."

"Of course," the line went dead.

He turned toward Blade, "Get me Sharp."

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

Sharp swept the interior of the command center of the base one last time. His COM unit beeped, he had an incoming transmission from Admiral Kote, "Sharp, what's your status?"

"Area secure Nyles, we've taken the base. Like you said, there's no sign of Jedi Master Ropal."

"I need you to gather a team and head to the Resolute to pick up General Skywalker and his men, they're going to board that Separatist Frigate."

"Understood sir, we'll be on our way."

Flare turned toward him, "What'd the Admiral say?"

"Skywalker's boarding that Frigate, Nyles wants us to keep him alive."

"What's the objective."

"We'll know when we get to the _Resolute_, but it's Skywalker, so it can't be easy."

"Only easy day was yesterday."

"Damn straight. We're done here." While he left Razor to handle the situation on the ground, he, Squad 14, Lieutenant Wraith, his squad and a squad of Special Operations Troopers from Shadow were on a gunship headed toward the _Resolute_. Three other gunships accompanied them, ready to ferry Skywalker's men and provide support if need be.

As they touched down the doors opened and he snapped off a smart salute to Skywalker, his Padawan and Admiral Yualaren. "Commander Sharp, nice to see you again."

"Likewise General, what's our objective here?" he asked Skywalker as he stepped in. Troopers from Torrent company could be seen stepping into the other waiting gunships.

"The Bounty Hunter Cad Bane has captured Master Ropal, we're going to get him back."

"Bane? That's the hutuune that stabbed Admiral Nyles," he said.

"That's right."

"With all due respect sir, if we see him, he's as good as dead. "

"If we kill him, we may never learn who his employer is."

The sound of a vibroblade leaving its housing caught their attention, turning around he could see Deadeye standing with his vibroblade extended "Who said anything about killing him General, we just want to give him a taste of his own medicine."

The gunship rocked slightly, "Sorry about that, droid fighters tried to stop us from landing." The gunships maneuvered around the landing bay, shredding droids all around with its weapons. Once the firing stopped Sharp felt the gunship set down and the doors opened with a hiss.

"Wraith, secure this hangar bay." Wraith, his squad and the squad of Spec Ops Troopers fanned out through the bay.

"Let's lock this bay down, destroy all the escape pods, no one gets off this ship." Wraith nodded and continued moving through the bay. "The rest of you, with me, we're going to storm the bridge." Sharp signaled his squad to follow and they took point. They reached the bridge eventually and Data took position by the door console.

"We going in quiet-like sir?" he asked, data pad in hand.

"They know we're here" said Alpha, putting a single grenade into his under barrel launcher.

Rain walked forward, "Looks like it's time for some fun."

"Why is that all demolitions experts are crazy?" asked Captain Rex, shaking his head as he walked toward them, Alpha and Sergeant Denal flanking either side.

"It's the explosions, they rattle their brains so much," said Deadeye calmly, quite accustomed to Rain's tendencies at this point.

Rain nodded as he set the charges, "Can't argue with that."

The charges emitted tones in increasing order of pitch indicating that they were going to blow. The troops took cover and when the door blew the pushed through alongside their brethren in the 501st putting the droids down with extreme prejudice. "He's not here," said General Skywalker.

"Sir, we should check the detention block. The power outage would have cut any interrogation attempts, General Ropal's chances of survival are a fair bit higher than they were."

"Let's move then."

With that they moved out of the bridge, stepping into the detention level they found themselves under heavy fire. "Commander, we need to get to Master Ropal!"

"I know General, I know!"

"Reverse Polarity Grenades and Droid Poppers on my mark!" he turned to Flare and the Torrent Company trooper with the Z-6 Rotary Cannon. "Suppressing fire, now!" The both of them unleashed a blistering torrent of fire on the droids, causing a lull in their return fire. "Mark!" Grenades arced toward the droids, a virtual electricity storm was created as the electricity arced all over the droids and the cell doors. They were about to move forward when three B2 Super Battledroids and Cade Bane himself stepped out of one of the cells, Bane had General Ropal with an arm lock closed around his neck and the other one pointing his blaster at them.

"Welcome Jedi, you've been expected. Drop your weapons or Master Ropal gets an early retirement."

Sharp raised his rifle, "You think we'd fall for that?"

"You may want to shoot me clone, but your 'General' won't let you. So be a good little soldier and put your weapon down."

Sharp got on the COM to Deadeye, "Deadeye, disarm our friend here." Suddenly a shot rang out and Bane dropped his gun, before fixing the Jedi with a fowl look. Suddenly the his HUD warned him about the lack of gravity as Bane hit a switch on his COM unit. The restrained, limp body of Master Ropal floated toward a point where it was very likely going to be riddled with bolts from the crossfire. He turned and saw Bane was getting away.

"Sir!" he called out to Anakin.

Commander Tano's voice filtered through his speakers, "Get Master Ropal Commander, I'll get the Bounty Hunter." Before either he, the General or the Captain or even Alpha could respond she leapt over their heads and slicing a droid or two in her way she followed the Bounty Hunter out the door which sealed behind her.

He called out to the others, "Cover me!" With a quick burst of his jetpack he flew toward Master Ropal and just in time shielded him from several blaster bolts. His shield dropped a fraction. Another burst sent him back. "Data, get me the kriffing gravity back!"

"Done," most of the men from Torrent Company dropped to their feet, others stumbled and picked themselves up. "Doors open!"

"Rex, send some men back to the shuttle with Master Ropal!" called out Anakin. He nodded, and two of the Torrent Company troopers picked General Ropal and turned toward the Hangar.

The door opened and they ran into the next room, one of the gun batteries. There were more droids and another door on their left which from the blaster impacts was only recently used by Commander Tano.

"Sir, we'll hold them here. Go after the Commander!" called out Rex.

Alpha nodded, "You know it's a trap."

As he cut through the door General Skywalker responded, "I know, but you know Obi Wan would have done the same for me."

Alpha nodded as they continued to open fire at the droids, "I know, go get him General."

A few minutes later they were mostly done with the droids, "Something's wrong, Captain, Lieutenant, stay here and make sure they don't pull anything!" They turn around to see both the Commander and the General running toward them. "General, where's Bane, did you get the Holocron?"

"No, we need to get out of here, he set the ship to blow!"

All the troopers turned with their Jedi General and Commander and made for the Hangar. They entered the Hangar where Wraith and his men were holding off droids. Getting into the gunships they made their way out of the doomed Separatist Frigate, not having accomplished their secondary objective. Well, at least they got that Jedi out alive.

**_Elsewhere_**

Unbeknownst to the Republic forces, a Separatist shuttle took off from a maintenance hatch. Looking not very different from the other debris, it made an in system jump. It's occupant, Duros Bounty Hunter Cad Bane.

**Till next time…**


	10. Chapter 10 - Children of the Force

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 10 – Children of the Force

**General Jango Fett**

"Why are we doing this together again?" asked Obi Wan as his Delta-7 Aetherspite detached from its Hyperspace Ring.

"What's the matter Ob'ika?" Jango smirked to himself. "Don't want to be seen with me?" **(No objection from Obiwan? "What did you just call me?")**

"It's a little late for that now, isn't it?" he said as he accelerated toward the planet a short distance ahead of Slave I.

"Relax, I'm not just a bounty hunter anymore, I'm Mand'alor." He began slowing down in preparation for landing as they approached the domed city in the distance "Besides, you need a bounty hunter to track another bounty hunter. This one also happened to injure a friend of mine."

"Of course."

A voice crackled through his cockpit speakers, "Unidentified vessel, please transmit authorization codes."

"Would you like me to transmit an Ion Cannon?"

Another voice cut in, "Sorry Mr. Fett sir, it's just that he's new here and he didn't remember who you are. Whatever business you have I hope it concludes well, our apologies."

"You're lucky I have a Jedi with me, or else this conversation might have concluded _very_ differently."

"Well," said Obi Wan, in response to the conversation that just occurred.

"Not the first time it's happened." he said as he set Slave I next to Kenobi's star fighter. He kept the engines warm in case he needed to get out quick, shields up as well. He activated the ship's security system and stepped out. "Kenobi, go ahead, I found something I want to check out." Looking around the landing platform he could see a Porax-38, it was a model that was popular amongst few others than Pirates, Mercenaries and Bounty Hunters. The coincidence was something that he was not willing to take into account.

He quickly attached a power drain device to the ship that would prevent power from going to the starter motor. Walking away very casually he quickly turned around when he heard the sound of a jetpack. He turned and watched Bane get into the cockpit. He pulled his two disruptor pistols free of their holsters and sprinted over to the canopy while Bane was occupied with trying to start the engines on his ship, likely blaming its inability to start on the very expensive ion accelerators he had installed.

Jango ran over and hit the emergency canopy release switch on its exterior, causing it fly open. His other hand had shoved his pistol in Bane's face. "Jango," he breathed, glaring at him. "Not done being the Republic's attack dog?"

"How about you drop both those blasters so that I don't shoot you."

Bane did as he was told, "That Mandalorian boy was a friend of yours, wasn't he?" Jango stayed silent. "You should have seen the look on his face when I—"

Jango cut him off with a quick jab delivered straight to his face. Obi Wan caught up eventually. Jango grabbed him by his collar and threw him onto the deck, slapping a pair of Beskar manacles onto him.

"Well, looks like you were right."

"Bane over here had some ship troubles," he said as he pulled Bane to his feet. "Good thing I was here to help. Check for the kid." Obi Wan retrieved a crying baby Rodian. "Get him to his parents, I'll inform the fleet that we found him."

"Nyles, Jango here."

"You found him?"

"Would I call you if I didn't?"

"We're on our way, careful 'Alor, he's slippery."

"Relax Nyles, he's not going anywhere." Before long the fleet came into orbit and after picking up Bane's starfighter they moved Bane into a cell on the _Guardian_. Right now Jango was standing in the cell while the Jedi tried to interrogate him.

"We know you've taken at least two children, where are they?" asked Kenobi.

"They are…beyond your reach."

"Who are you working for?" asked Windu.

"I work alone."

Jango scoffed, "Bounty hunters never work alone, Bane."

"It is only a matter of time before we find the holocron, make it easier on yourself."

"What are you going to do Jedi? Torture me?"

"I think the fear of whoever you work for, outweighs your fear of us."

"This conversation is over."

Jango stepped forward and turned toward the two Jedi. "Leave. Now." Without even a moment's hesitation, they left. Jango delivered a punch to his face. "Where." Another punch. "Is." Another. "That." Another. "Holocron?" And a 'last' punch for good measure.

Bane spat green blood onto the floor. "You're going to have to do better than that Mandalorian." Jango scoffed and extended his gauntlet vibroblade.

"Those breathing tubes are connected cybernetically, how about I make it a little difficult for you to breathe."

"You wouldn't."

Jango walked forward and rammed him into the wall, "Wouldn't I? Tell yourself that when I toss your useless carcass out the airlock."

"You'll never find the holocron."

"Does it look like I care about some Jetii children? There's another reason entirely I'm doing this."

"You'd kill me for that boy? You've become soft Jango."

"It takes guts to care Bane," he said as he drove the blade into Bane's shoulder. "Now, where is that Holocron."

"I—agh!—see your point," he said, voice pained. "I'll take you to the holocron."

"Pray you don't disappoint me."

Soon they had Bane on Slave I, with Windu and Kenobi as well as Sharp, Flare and Commander Cody in the Cabin. Jango caught the tiniest of smirks from Windu, which honestly surprised him. He was surprised Kenobi didn't look more concerned, though. Both Sharp and Cody snapped off a smart salute as they stepped onto the loading ramp with Bane. They moved into the cockpit together, leaving Bane in one of the holding cells that he had on the ship. After they had left the ship, he turned toward Bane once the field was up, "The coordinates."

"The coordinates are, 673117x7RE71."

Obi Wan called out from the cockpit, "That will take us into the far outer rim. Neutral Space."

"Do you want your holocron and your kids, or not?" Bane spat.

Wordlessly Flare activated the ship's engines and they accelerated into Hyperspace.

Jango turned around and walked toward the cabin, "Flare, you and Cody stay here. Sharp, and Generals Kenobi and Windu and I will go in the bounty hunter." Flare and Cody nodded.

"You can count on us General!" said Cody as he snapped off a smart salute. The ship dropped out of Hyperspace and moved to dock with a station in the midst of an asteroid field. Without any event they stepped out of the ship with Bane. Jango knew better than to walk in unarmed.

"I do not sense any children nearby," said Obi Wan as they walked away from the airlock and stepped into an elevator.

"Neither do I," said Windu as the elevator proceeded upwards.

"Where are you keeping the children?" demanded Obi Wan.

"The children are safe, but first there is your precious holocron." Turning around the Holocron was indeed there. "Let me get it for you," said Bane making to step forward.

"No more of your tricks," said Windu, stopping him. Windu then took a step forward, triggering an alarm. "Blast!"

"Well you certainly stepped in it this time!" called out Obi Wan. Jango turned and saw a turret release from a hatch.

"Turret!" he called out, opening fire at it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Bane move. "Get your miserable shebs back here!" he said, aiming his pistol at him. Sharp moved to stop Bane.

Bane waved one arm. "So long sleemo!" he called out as the wall revolved, allowing him to escape. Jango turned and noticed that the entire room had come alive. While the Jedi were busy deflecting the bolts he and Sharp opened fire without restraint. Firing two rockets from his gauntlet launcher he removed two of the beam turrets. He continued his assault firing a plasma caster on precision beam mode at two of the heavy blaster turrets, whilst using his pistol to take out another beam turret.

He continued his assault and with the two Jedi and Sharp he managed to destroy the defenses. "Get the holocron, there's no doubt he activated the self-destruct sequence!" Jango shouted. Obi Wan dove forward and grabbed the holocron. The three of them dived out the rapidly closing door and ran toward Slave I. "Flare, get the engines running and prepare to get us out of here quick!" Jango ordered.

"Got it General!" came Flare's reply. They quickly dived in through the airlock right as Cody shut it behind them. Flare detached Slave I and made his way out of the asteroid field with best speed. Well, at least they had got that Shabla holocron, but they had let that hutuun Bane escape.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"And it always ends up being us..." said Ahsoka as she moved back underneath Cad Bane's ship.

"You're telling me. Shiny new ship and nothing to shoot at, its infuriating," Nyles said, walking over.

"Bane picked up a lot of volcanic ash on his travels," said Ahsoka, rubbing the dust off her fingers.

Both Anakin and him spoke at the same time, "Looks like Bane erased his navigation records but not his fuel computers." They watched each other, this time, but continued to speak simultaneously, both amused and irritated. "Have you checked his fuel computers?" And then again, "It's an old Jedi trick used to track down smugglers." and "A Republic Agent taught me that once."

Ahsoka looked at them both, "Really?"

He shrugged while Anakin continued working on calculating where Bane went. "Okay, let's see. Glee Ansem, Rodia, Mustafar, Naboo..."

Ahsoka cut him off, "Wait, Mustafar? There were no children on Mustafar."

"It's a mining world," said Anakin. "Very remote, probably stopped there to refuel."

He cut in, "Yes, except he would need a permit. It would draw unwanted attention to himself there."

"That explains the ash, but its six systems out of his way, maybe he met up with whoever he's working for. It's worth a look, isn't it?"

"I'll come along, I'll be your pilot."

"Are you sure Nyles?" asked Anakin.

"Have you _seen_ the landing platforms on Mustafar? If you guys are in trouble, you'll want someone to fly the ship quick."

"Okay, okay, but admit it. Part of you just wants to fly this ship."

He smiled underneath his helmet, "Maybe, just maybe."

Soon he was at the controls of HWK-290 Freighter _Twilight_. He activated the ship's engines, taking it out of the Hangar Bay and out into the void. He activated the Navicomputer and set it to jump to Mustafar right before he activated the Hyperdrive and sent them on their way.

"You're pretty good at this, maybe you should be my pilot all the time" said Anakin.

"You couldn't afford me, besides, I already have a job" he returned, leaning back in the pilot's seat.

"Where'd you learn to fly like that?" asked Ahsoka. "The Academy?"

"Self-taught, most good pilots are. My family had an old Q-Type ship at our farm on Mandalore. We used to use it to transport Netra'gal to the markets. Yeah, we were brewers, best damn Netra'gal you'd have ever had."

"Just like Master Skywalker," she said, beaming.

"And here I was expecting fancy Academy flying," said Anakin form next to him.

"Oh it's still going to be fancy Academy flying, but that's not to say that I was one of the better bush pilots south of Keldabe."

Skywalker smiled, "Does your mother—"

He cut him off, "Nor will she _ever_."

Both Ahsoka and Anakin chuckled, even Anakin's droid beeped. Soon they came out of Hyperspace near the planet Mustafar. "Alright, time to see how fast this ship can break atmo." Pushing forward on the engine output lever Nyles angled the ship for a perfect planetary approach, one of the finer things taught to him by the Academy. Nyles knew that entering a Volcanic planet without shielding activated was generally a bad idea, and so he did so. Nyles could see the facility up ahead and he slowed the ship down, dropping it gently onto its landing struts and lowering the loading ramp. He had landed with the front and the ramp facing the facility so that a beating a hasty retreat would not be too difficult.

Nyles activated one of the turrets and kept his eyes on the scanners, there was no telling what was in there. Suddenly he felt his weight shift and he looked at the stabilizers to see if they were acting up and that was when he looked out the cockpit and noticed that the facility was tearing itself apart. "Anakin, Ahsoka, we need to leave, _now_!"

"I know, I know!" came Anakin's response. He heard the sound of boots thundering up the loading ramp and after waiting for a moment he shut the ramp and activated the engines, causing the ship to rise into the air. He saw Anakin and Ahsoka walking into the cockpit and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they had the two children.

"Alright, getting us the kriff out of here." He threw the ship into an upward ascent and once they were out of the atmosphere Ahsoka spoke.

"Admiral, language!"

He just smiled and set a course for Rodia.

**Till next time…**


	11. Chapter 11 - Republic Victory

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 11 – Republic Victory on Malastare

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Nyles stood on the bridge of a Phalanx Assault Frigate hovering over the complete carnage that was the final push on the droid forces on the planet of Malastare. Torrent Company and the 91st Reconnaissance along with Shadow Legion were showing the droids just how true Mandalorians fought. He could see the troopers marching against the droids with heavy CAS and armored support. The gun turrets on the Phalanx frigate swatted droids fighters out of the sky and bombarded droid positions with precision missile and disruptor strikes. From up here he could see Sharp, his squad, Skywalker, Windu, Commander Ponds and a squad of 91st Recon Troopers, Torrent Company troopers with Rex, Alpha and Denal leading them.

Behind them was Wraith and Razor leading their men and bringing modified AT-TEs and Bha'lir tank escort. The Bha'lir tanks were wrecking the droid armored units with ease. Occasionally amongst the sea of blue, purple, yellow and green he would see an almost cyan beam and know that a Bha'lir tank just vaporized something. The droids were now at their base and their lines were now completely broken. "How's the view from up there, Admiral?" came Skywalker's voice through the bridge speakers.

"Great view actually. So, I recommend you pull back to minimum safe distance so that we can turn that base into a pile of slag."

"Good idea Admiral. I hope you sent in the gunships?"

"Oh I sent them in a while ago."

Anyone watched the battle would see the four Phalanx Frigates stop while gunships flew in underneath them to pick up the Republic Forces. Nyles waited from the all clear signal until it flashed on his command console. He turned to the ship's commander and nodded. "All call signs this is Admiral Kote, open fire, now." All frigates unleashed hell on the hapless droids, explosions and impacts of the high energy weapons mushroomed all around the landscape. When the smoke finally cleared there was nothing left of the droid base, the land was pockmarked with craters. The scars of battle had left their mark on the surface of Malastare.

But that battle had been won, and Malastare's fuel had been secured for the Republic. They had done it. "Kandosii," Nyles breathed. He stood up straighter "KANDOSII!" the bridge crew cheered along with him. Suddenly the ground beneath the CIS base collapsed, leaving a giant crater. "I didn't cheer that loudly?" he said looking that crater that had formed.

"What the hell just happened?" demanded Skywalker, "Admiral! Talk to me!"

"Hell if I know," he said looking at the scanners. "But I intend to find out. Keep clear, we'll keep our scanners active."

A crewman got his attention, "Sir, you might want to come here." Nyles walked over to the screen, but what was being displayed was not possible, it was just too big. "What is that?"

"Must be debris, scan again, higher intensity." He was cut off by a loud, sharp piercing cry that came from inside the crater. Nyles closed his eyes, "Please don't be a Hypergate, please don't be a Hypergate."

"Sir, there's something down there."

Nyles took a deep breath, he was going to regret this, "Take us closer, activate Floodlights, highest intensity."

"Might not need to sir, look!" he opened his eyes again and saw the most horrific thing he had seen in years and something told him that it was not all of the creature that had showed itself.

"Nyles, what the _hell _is that thing?" demanded Skywalker.

"I don't know, ask the Dugs and ask them quick. I want to know if I can use every weapon on this ship to send it to hell."

A few moments later Skywalker got back to him. "Uh Admiral, apparently that thing is a Zillo Beast. It's an ancient predatory creature that roamed Malastare."

"Oh good, let's vaporize it."

"What? Why? That's a unique life form! We can't kill it!"

"Did I ever tell you about the Mythosaurs?"

"What does this have to do with the situation at hand?"

"We Mandalorians wiped out the Mythosaurs from Mandalore millennia ago, that was not to say we didn't have great respect for it. But it was far too dangerous to leave alive. What do the Dug want?"

"The Dug want to kill it, and they want us to help. They threatened to withdraw from the treaty if we didn't."

"Do you see the ever dwindling risk of options."

"Still a lot of options that don't involve killing it."

"And those options involve the death of a lot of other people, some of the them are my vode. Don't make me have to leave you to do this alone."

Another voice cut in, "This is an innocent life Admiral, it is not the Jedi Way."

"Do I look like a Jedi to you General Windu?" **(...maybe.)**

"No, but—"

He cut them off, "This thing will tear our men apart given the chance, and I'm not going to let the Dugs try whatever stupid plan they have." A screech cut them all off. The same head that he saw before appeared on the edge of the ridge, followed by a long body with plates. It broke through the line of Dug artillery within seconds and began heading toward the Republic one. "All ships open fire, open fire now!"

"Admiral!" reprimanded Windu.

"That thing is heading toward our line, I won't have your principles be the reason for the death of my vode!" he returned. The four frigates opened fire, as did the tanks on the Republic Line. The Plasma Hybrid rounds barely left scorch marks while the few blasters that hit it didn't even leave a mark. The MPAC rounds made it pause, but it was the Disruptors that made it cry out each time one hit it. That must've been it, the Disruptors must be the only thing capable of penetrating its thick plating. "This is Admiral Kote to all Republic forces, use disruptors only, anything else will just make it angry."

There was a pause in the barrage as he guessed his troops moved to get their hands on any disruptors they could. Soon the Republic Barrage was made out of only purple disruptor bolts. The barrage kept the beast from advancing too fast, but slowly and surely despite growing holes in its plating kept coming. This wasn't going to stop it on time, but he had to try. Then the thought hit him, what if just wasn't using a big enough gun. "Blade, this is Nyles, I need you to hit a target for me."

"Is all that talk about a Zillo beast true, sir?"

"Yes Blade, and now I want you to shoot it."

"Of course sir, but what about the Jedi?"

"What about the Jedi? Aren't they objecting?"

"They have no choice, the Dugs want it dead and that thing is heading toward our lines."

"On it sir, opening fire." Even as the purple barrage continued, several larger bolts came down from the skies, impacting the creature, causing it to scream out in pain even louder. "Hitting it again." The barrage continued, this time causing the creature to stumble. "Once more." This time the creature dropped, causing the very ground to shake as it hit.

"Finish it Blade, it's down."

"Admiral, stop!" came the voice of Windu.

"He's right Admiral, we can study that armor Admiral! Its impenetrable to blasters!" screamed Skywalker.

"Beskar is near impenetrable, but I won't risk a rampant creature destroying any of our research facilities." He cut the COM line and got back on one with Blade, "Finish it."

"Sir." The final barrage came down, killing the Zillo Beast. The Dugs would now sign the treaty, and the battle was over. Just like before the battlefield was scarred with the signs of war and life had been lost. But he would trade that creature's life over the life of any of his fellow Mandalorians here. Here, it wasn't like on Orto Plutonia, he had prevented more death by killing this thing, hadn't he? Damn those Jedi, they were getting in his head with their 'innocent life' talk. He had done what any leader would, identify the threat to his men, and lead them to eliminate it. Whatever it was he was done with this planet.

_**On the Guardian**_

"Nonstop to Triple Zero Admiral?" asked Blade the moment he stepped onto the bridge.

"Yes Blade, nonstop. As fast as this ship will take us."

"Something on your mind sir?"

"Sometimes this war really gets to me."

"Gets to all of us sir," he said taking a sip of his caf.

"Blade, don't go and get addicted to caf now."

"It's your fault sir," he said smiling, "for getting the good stuff."

"Freeze dried is the osik that I feed to the matter recycler," he said.

"That thing works according to mass and density sir, the caf would hardly be enough to make anything."

"My point exactly, it's not worth much at all."

"Really sir, what's wrong?"

"These Separatists are fighting way too hard for Rebels, which despite their military-industrial strength is what they are. I don't understand it Blade, it doesn't make sense. We can wipe their droids out wholesale, yet their morale remains rock solid."

"That's because they're only droids, sir."

"Point taken," he turned around and saw that the ship had accelerated to Hyperspace."

"I'm going to finish up that report to Naval Command about vaporizing a very large super predator on Malastare, right after I get a cup of caf."

"Good luck sir," said Blade as he took another sip. "I don't envy you."

Nyles took the elevator down to the officers' quarters and headed toward the one designated for the ship's Captain. Stepping inside, he placed his rifle into his arms locker, keeping his pistol on him with two power cells. He sat at his desk and sighed, activating his personal computer console and got to work wording the report to Naval Command. Before long he had typed up the report, which from the look of it was starting to look a lot like an incident report with its slight apologetic tone.

Nyles knew that without the apologetic tone, however asskissy and un-Mando it felt, the brass would find some way to put his head on a stake over the Zillo Beast. He had no choice in the matter; his choice was to either let the Jedi try to subdue it whilst possibly allowing it to ravage Republic forces, or put it down with a reasonable guarantee that it was the right solution to the problem. He hit the send button and waited until the telltale beep informed him that the file had been committed to the server.

There was something that he hadn't done that he was still to do and so he activated his Holocom, it began attempting to contact the last person it had sent a transmission to – Agent Helena Deviss. A very sleepy Agent Deviss dominated his Holocom. She was clad in a loose sleeveless top and her hair was slightly disheveled "Nyles," she said drowsily, looking at the datapad on her table "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Is this a bad time?" he asked, suddenly unsure of himself.

She sat up straighter in bed, "Well I'm up now."

"Sorry."

"Don't waste my sleep with apologies Nyles, get to it" she said, impatient.

"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner tomorrow night and there was a new vid on that I thought you might enjoy."

"Dinner and movie?" she asked, still drowsy. "Sure. What time?"

"19:00 sound good to you?"

"Sounds good, where?"

"It's a surprise, I'll pick you up."

"Sure, sounds fun. Good night Nyles."

"Night Helena." Nyles cut the COM line and raised his hand in the air celebration. Nyles checked the Holonet for restaurants that would be good to take Helena to. He found a great Alderanian place that had opened up near the 500 Republica Apartments. It was oddly affordable, it was opened by an Alderanian who had been in the Judicial Security Forces. It wasn't that Nyles hadn't done a background check, but it was also proudly advertised on the Holonet page.

Now for that movie. What was even on at the time? Well there was Rus and Jun, the love story about a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter and a Jedi Knight during the Jedi/Sith Cold War. Well, it was supposed to be funny, and romantic at the same time. He had no idea it was good, or not, but people seemed to like it. He hoped that the Mandalorian wasn't portrayed like how the galaxy loved portraying his people, senseless brutes. However, there was one person he could trust to give an honest opinion – Saram.

He activated his COM unit and punched in Saram's name. "Nyl'ika! To what do I owe this call?"

"Nothing much Sar'ika, just calling to see how my favorite vod is today."

"Aw, thanks ori'vod (big brother)!"

"So I was wondering, I heard about this movie, _Rus and Jun_."

She cut him off, "Great movie! But it's not your type, why are you asking again?"

"No reason, just wanted to see if the aruetii are portraying our people correctly is all."

"No, no its fine…maybe you should watch it."

"Don't have the time Sar'ika, stay out of trouble for me."

"I'm an adult, you don't have to worry about me."

"That's what _makes_ me worry."

She laughed, "Bye Nyl'ika, good luck out there."

"Bye Sar'ika." Nyles cut the COM Link again with a sigh he walked over to his weapon's locker and grabbed his rifle and power cells, replaced his helmet and headed in the direction of the bridge. Once he was one the bridge he watched as the ship's personnel were called back to their quarters as standard protocol when any ship came out of Hyperspace. "So Blade, where does Naval Command want us to park?"

"They want us to park right next to that Golan II, sir," he said pointing to the large station in the distance.

"Alright, park the ship and once all checks are finished, you guys are on shore leave."

"Shore leave, sir? You mean it?"

"We've seen a string of battles, we deserve some shore leave."

"It's really just leave until our next orders come in, isn't it?"

"Something tells me that they're not coming soon."

"Of course sir. Plans for the evening?"

"You bet."

"Good luck, sir."

"Thanks, Blade."

Nyles headed toward the Hangar Bay, particularly toward the ship from MandalMotors that just made delivery recently. Sitting there was his pentagonal shaped Jetyer Shuttle. They had an angular slanted appearance, quite resembling the creature they were named after in some ways. Armed to the teeth and armored with Beskar plating, with vectored ion thrust engines and state of the art COM systems, not to mention some of the better interiors that he had seen on a ship in a while. His model featured certain aftermarket parts that the stock model didn't feature.

He hit the activation sequence macro on his gauntlet, dropping the loading ramp. Nyles stepped in and walked straight to the pilots seat. The interiors were plush for Mando standards and had all the comforts of Corellian Models but packed all the performance features that Mandos loved. He raised the ramp and found himself smiling as the engines purred to life.

Slowly, he lifted the craft off the deck before he sent it out into the void and toward the planet ahead. He checked the Navicomputer for directions to his apartment, it had felt like ages since he had been there. Of course, when on duty, he had a duty to remain on his ship. But now, he was on shore leave, he could go home and see what a state it had been left in.

True, his apartment had been provided by the Republic, but his place was still on a ship. Besides, he didn't like the company of the other officers that lived there for the most part, or the extra security. He could see the building in sight now, for all his complaints they were certainly nice apartments. He felt however, that the funds could be put to better use elsewhere. But, he wasn't a treasury agent, so he wasn't going to worry about that.

He set the shuttle down on the landing pad, gently. As he stepped out the three troopers on duty saluted him, "Evening Admiral!"

He returned the salute, "At ease, you know I don't stand on ceremony."

"Of course sir," said the Corporal in charge, he followed him toward the edge of the pad. "If you don't mind me asking sir, how is the war going."

"There's a lot of seppy sheb kicking, but you know, sometimes there's no end in sight. We'll pull through though, we Mando'ade always do. I know you must get this a lot, but I know that this job seems to be dull, but remember – not all of these Aruetii are as capable as us Mando boys."

"Of course sir, just sometimes gets dull is all."

"Seppies get to Triple Zero, won't be dull anymore, but I've taken enough of your time. Have a good evening Corporal Rhys."

"Thanks sir, you too."

He smiled as he stepped off of the landing pad, "Oh I will."

The biometric scanner at his door verified that it was indeed him. He was greeted by a the synthesized voice of a droid. It was an old droid that had been with his family for a while. It was originally a Czerka Arms Assault Droid, but it took to its duties of caretaker very well and knew how to handle a blaster. The best part was being so old it was incompatible with newer networks and so it couldn't be remotely reprogrammed. "Master Nyles, you have returned."

"It wasn't that long DW, calm down." The droid's original designation was long forgotten.

"Of course, will you be dining in this evening?" his mother had said one thing about the droid, don't ever let it cook Mando food. Nyles sometimes wondered if he was being far too opulent, but then he remembered the opulence that some of the others live in and decided to not be so harsh on himself.

"No, not tonight DW."

"Very well."

He walked up to his bedroom and after shutting the door behind him, he walked over to his wardrobe and pulled a charcoal grey suit out of it. He quickly removed his armor and put the suit on. He straightened his tie, but was still convinced it looked wrong. He tried again but it looked worse and so he decided to not tempt fate any longer stepped out of the bedroom with his pistol tucked into his jacket pocket with a single power cell.

As he stepped back into the living room he detected a pleasant smell coming from the center of the room, "DW, is that an Asyr flower?"

"How astute of you, Master Nyles." There was something terrifying about seeing an assault droid maintain a house, or even complement someone.

"You mind if I take that?" he asked.

"Not at all."

He reached forward and grabbed the flower, and turned and headed for the door. He stepped outside and walked toward the shuttle, Corporal Rhys was still on the landing pad. "Looking sharp Admiral, meeting someone?"

"You could say that, as you were Corporal."

Rhys straightened, "Sir!"

He stepped into the ship and put the flower down on the seat next to him. He hit the ignition button and the ship's engines purred to life. He raised the ship off of its landing struts which he retracted. That was when he realized that he didn't actually have her address. A ping sound signified that he received a message. It was from Helena, and automated one by the looks of things, containing her address. Nyles fed the address into the ship's Navicomputer.

Swinging the ship past all the speeders, luxury yachts, freighters and other shuttles he eventually reached the apartment complex that Helena lived in. Setting the ship down on the landing pad outside, he walked to the Apartments. What was her flat number 2249? Yeah, that was it. He walked over and hit the little button on the outside wall. Nyles could hear the bell ringing inside. The door slid open and Nyles jaw dropped. "Whoa... you're beautiful. Your dress is beautiful..." he blurted.

Helena gave him one of her trademark smiles and took the flower from his hand, taking a breath "Oh, yeah, I guess so. Senator Amidala loaned this to me. To thank me, I guess. Anyway that's the bull line she gave me..." she returned back inside for a moment and put the solitary Asyr flower in a vase.

"Well, it suits you. I got you that flower to um…I don't know it reminded me of you."

"It smelt nice?"

"Uh," he started.

"It's lovely, thank you. Now, I believe that we're going to be late for dinner if we stand around here any longer," she said, shutting the door behind her as she stepped out. They walked together to Nyles shuttle. "Whoa, now that is a _nice_ shuttle."

"MandalMotors Jetyer Shuttle," he said, dropping the ramp "after you." She stepped inside and sat down in the seat beside him, strapping herself in immediately. Looking around the cabin, she was nodding appreciatively. He activated the engines and raised the shuttle off of its landing struts. "So, what'd you think?"

"It's a great ship, call in some favors at MandalMotors?"

"Yeah, saw this thing on their catalog and I just _had _to get it."

"Of course you did," she said smiling. He continued to look into her eyes. "Why don't you keep your eyes on the controls hotshot?"

"There's no exploding bunkers here," he tapped the control console. "Besides, this thing's plated in Beskar."

"Is that the Mando answer to everything, plate it in Beskar?"

Nyles thought for a moment and then nodded, "Now that you mention in, pretty much."

"If your mom wasn't such an excellent cook, I'd have thought that Mando food was like that too, dense and unbreakable." He rolled his eyes, remembering the Uj cake that his mother had sent him. "Some would say Mando men are like that too. But I know that under that armor they're for the most part hopeless romantics."

"Know many Mando men do you?" he asked, turning his attention back to the viewport.

"Well, I do for one, know this Mando," she said looking at him.

He smiled and turned toward her again, "Huh?"

"What did I say?" she started.

"Yes ma'am, eyes on controls," he said, instantly turning his attention back to the controls. He could see the restaurant landing pad in the distance and dropped his speed, bringing the craft in for a nice smooth touchdown on its landing struts. He activated the ramp and unbuckled his harness. He gestured toward the ramp, "After you."

She smiled and walked down the ramp, with him following her. The restaurant had the façade and entry way of an Alderanian Royal Palace. "Whoa, now that is cool" she breathed looking at the neatly manicured hedge that bordered the path to the entrance.

"I heard it's one of the better Alderanian restaurants on Coruscant. Figured you must be wanting some food that's a little closer to home right about now."

She stopped and looked at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just…thank you."

"No, thank you for agreeing to come to dinner."

She smiled, "My pleasure."

They walked toward the entrance where there was a man waiting with a datapad in traditional Alderanian formal dress. "Reservation?" he asked.

Nyles was still smiling and only then realized that the man was talking to him, "Oh, it's uh, under Kote. Nyles Kote."

"Right this way Mr. Kote," he said, beckoning them into the restaurant. The floor was a fine white marble, the walls were decorated with a regal colors, it really had the feel of being inside a Alderanian Royal Palace. The man directed them toward a lovely two seat table adorned with fine linen.

As soon as they were seated she turned toward him after looking around, "You know I'm not royalty right?"

"Well, who says you have to be royalty to be treated to a nice night out?"

She let out a short laugh, "I suppose that's right."

The waiter walked over, "Can I offer you a choice from our fine Alderanian wine selection? I think we have just the bottle for the two of you."

He looked over at her, "You okay with this?"

She nodded and after a brief conversation with the waiter about what kind to get he walked away and she turned back toward him, "It'll take more than some criminal scum to put me off... Besides, it just means he has good taste. Well, from that discussion I guess you're getting us some kind of special variety...?"

"The best kind, not to worry."

"Oh good, glad to see you enjoying yourself."

"Are you kidding, do you have any idea how long it's been since I was home?"

"A while."

"I mean it's been a while, not as long as you, but still a while. Tell me something."

"Anything."

"Why exactly is it that you waited this long for something to happen between us?" she asked, obviously referring to their previous experiences together.

"Pretty girl like you," he started looking away.

"Wasn't I clear enough?"

"You were pretty clear on Perma."

"Damn it Nyles, if I had known that was all there was to it…I would have kissed you a long time ago."

"Well, no reason we can't make up for lost time and enjoy this dinner, together. Speaking of which I can't make head or tail of this menu."

She gave a short sympathetic laugh. "Well, let me help you." The evening progressed excellently, excellent food and wine complementing it. They laughed and joked and generally enjoyed each other's company. At some point their feet bumped awkwardly and they ended up staring into each other's eyes until they were interrupted by the arrival of dessert. After partaking of the pastry dish set before them, they retreated to their sides of the table as the dessert dish was removed and individual cups of some exotic caf was set before them.

"Mmm, this is really good. Where'd you say this was from again?"

She took a sip from her cup, "The highlands."

"I know you said you're a city girl, but some part of me always saw you in the wide open spaces of the country."

"I was actually born in the countryside, moved to the city when I was eight."

"Oh, so young Helena Deviss was a country girl?"

"And young Nyles Kote was not a country boy?"

"Young Nyles Kote was everything but a country boy, but not to say he wasn't adept outdoors. My mom refused to cook it after I brought home my tenth shatual, blaster bolt straight through its head."

She smiled, "Now that's funny, I guess everyone had enough of shatual for a while!"

"That they did, my sister saw me dragging it in and complained, 'If I have to eat Shatual again, I'm going to kick Nyl'ika's shebs!' My mom consoled her and said that she would beat her to it." Nyles looked at the datapad left on the table and tapped his credit chip, a beep signifying that funds had been transferred.

"Hey, you didn't even—" she started.

"It's my treat," he said putting his hand on her forearm.

She gave him a smiled, "Alright, but only if you insist."

"So, we'd better get going if we want to catch our movie." He walked over and pulled her chair back, allowing her to stand up.

"Thank you, again" she said as they walked toward the exit. He smiled as they walked toward the exit.

"No problem, what's the point of my paycheck if I can't spend it on the ones I love?"

She blushed. As they were leaving he stopped short, seeing someone he knew. Clad in a suit was Ordo Skirata. "Ordo?" What was he doing here? Had Jango or Sharp sent him after him? "What are you doing here?"

"What you were doing Nyles," he said stepping aside to revel Besany Wennen. "Getting dinner."

"Oh? Right," he said, feeling embarrassed. "Have a great night you two."

"You too Nyles, ma'am," said Ordo before he and Besany entered the restaurant.

"In my defense, it was my idea first," he said to Helena.

She sighed and rolled her eyes as she tugged him in the direction of the theater, "Come on, originality is a deceptive concept and one that I don't really care for in any case." As they neared the theater she smiled, "_Rus and Jun_? I've been waiting to find some time to see that."

"Oh, would you look at that? Must be you're lucky day Helena."

They were soon seated inside the theater and the movie started playing. The movie got to a point where the protagonists were falling for each other and suddenly he felt something on his hand. He turned and saw Helena's hand on his. He turned his hand and took hold of hers gently. After a while the movie was done and he dropped her back to her apartment and was walking her from the landing pad to her apartment.

"That was a lovely evening Nyles, I had fun."

"I did too," he said, right as they reached her door.

"This is my stop."

"We should do this again sometime."

"Yeah, we should," she leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips. "Good night Nyles."

He stood there for a moment before responding, "Good night Helena." They stood there smiling at each other until the door separated them. As Nyles walked back to his shuttle he smiled, not a care in the world, his spirits lifted by the evening's events. 'What a great girl' he thought to himself as he stepped into the shuttle 'I'm must be the luckiest Mando out there.'

**Till next time…**


	12. Chapter 12 - Shore Leave

he Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 12 – Shore Leave

**Agent Helena Deviss**

Helena stepped out of her airspeeder, it had been a gift from her parents when she had moved to Coruscant. She loved that thing, but she loved her Republic Intelligence issued Stealth Nu-class attack shuttle, but for what she had planned it wasn't the best thing to be flying around in. She looked around the hangar bay in the Jedi Temple, her landing was announced but that didn't stop the Jedi led squad of troopers from walking over to her.

"Identification please, Agent Deviss." The unsaid part of that statement was, 'If that's who you really are.' She was glad that she didn't have to pull anything out of her pockets, it was like clothing manufacturers didn't believe women would use them. She tapped her wrist COM, displaying a hologram of her ID Card.

"Satisfied, Jedi?" she asked, giving him a look.

"Apologies Agent, we just have to keep tight security."

She waved him off, "Save your pre-written nonsense for the civvies, we're on the same side. I'm part of the agency that wrote that."

The Jedi nodded and stepped out of her way. She kept walking into the temple. She hadn't actually been in the temple before, few people other than Jedi and the Clone Troopers assigned to them have. She looked at the grand archways, pillars, the carpets, it almost had a regal feel to it. She'd understand why the Jedi thought so highly of themselves, especially if they have seldom left the temple.

She honestly had no idea where to look for who she was looking for. She was looking for Ahsoka. It wasn't for official purposes, but instead, she wanted to take her out of the temple. Ahsoka had made a very good point, the two of them didn't have very many friends at all. Honestly, she believed that no one should be confined to two places; the battlefield and the temple.

She was actually hoping that someone walked over and asked her what she was looking for. Lo and behold a blue skinned Twi'lek walked over to her, "Can I help you?"

She put on a smile, the one she reserved for people she had to show a modicum of respect to, but didn't necessarily care for. "Hello Master Jedi," she could tell that this indeed _was _a Jedi Master. "I'm Agent Deviss, I'm looking for Ahsoka Tano."

"Ah," said the Jedi in realization "Is she in some sort of trouble, Agent?"

"No, no at all. In fact I would believe that we are friends. I'm just dropping in to say hello." She wasn't sure if she was actually allowed to do what she was about to.

"Oh?" asked the Jedi, raising her eyebrows. "Of course, if you go down the hall and take a left. You should enter the sparring area, they're in there. It was nice talking to you Agent."

"And you Master Jedi," she said. The Jedi bowed and she reciprocated the gesture. She began walking down the hallway and as she neared the end she could hear the sound of a lightsaber swooshing. When she stepped into the room, she could see Ahsoka and Skywalker sparring. Skywalker had a quarterstaff, made of cortosis presumably, and Ahsoka was wielding a training saber. She kept darting around Skywalker who was quick to adapt. Skywalker swung, but Ahsoka ducked underneath the staff and delivered a slash to his chest.

"Well done, Ahsoka," said Anakin bowing.

"Thanks Master," replied Ahsoka, returning the gesture. At this point she started clapping, and it echoed throughout the room. Both Master and Padawan turned toward her.

"Agent Deviss, what are you doing here?" asked Skywalker.

"Well Master Skywalker, I was wondering if I could take your Padawan to lunch. Hardly a girl's day out, but I assume lunch is allowed."

"I don't see why not, Ahsoka should go out more often."

"Well, it just so happens that neither of us get much free time. Come on Ahsoka, we're burning daylight." Ahsoka looked at both of them and smiled.

"Go on Ahsoka, don't keep Agent Deviss waiting."

She remembered something, "Oh and Master Skywalker, you have business with the senate this evening. Something about that new motion they're passing."

"Of course, thank you Agent." She nodded. With that she and Ahsoka stepped out of the sparring room.

"You're taking me to lunch?" asked Ahsoka.

"Hush," she said looking around. "Talk about it once we're out of the temple." Ahsoka nodded. They stepped into the hangar bay where the same Jedi who had stopped them earlier let them pass without question. It was not weird for a Republic Agent to participate in Jedi operations. After all, they had skills most Jedi don't. Of course, there were the few that were especially good.

She got into her speeder and thankfully Ahsoka did so as well without being told so. She hit ignition and drove calmly out the temple. "Now we can talk."

"So why take me outside the temple for a meal?"

"I know we can have a meal inside the temple, but this isn't just about having a meal with friends, but rather it's about having a meal with friends _and _showing you the world outside the battlefield and the temple."

Ahsoka thought for a moment and smiled, "I guess you have a plan?"

"Do I have a plan? I always have a plan."

"So what are we doing?"

"When was the last time you had some local food?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what, I have to show you this."

Before long they reached CoCo Town, one of the many Commercial Districts on Coruscant. "CoCo district? Are we heading to Dex's Diner?" asked Ahsoka.

"Oh, so you have heard of it," she said, surprised.

"Yeah, Master Kenobi really likes this place."

"My dad used to come here when he was stationed on Coruscant. He was in the Judicial Forces Navy."

"Your father was in the Navy?" asked Ahsoka. "How was that for you growing up?"

"It wasn't really very different," she said thinking back "He was home for a while and then he wasn't, I got used to it pretty quickly." She could see the public landing space next to Dex's diner and she brought her speeder in for a landing. "Alright, let's get some food." The two of them stepped out of the speeder and walked over to the doors, stepping inside."

"Helena Deviss!" bellowed Dex from near the entrance.

Ahsoka gave her a look, "What? I never said that I don't come here once in a long while."

"Once in a long while?" asked Ahsoka.

"Can't come here too often if you intend to stay a certain shape, if you know what I mean," said Dex chuckling. Helena gave him a look, "But I prefer cooking food people like than serving that healthy crap. Let me show you ladies to a table."

Following Dex they sat at a window-side table. Ahsoka moved to take the seat opposite the entry when she cut in and sat instead. "Sorry, force of habit," she said to Ahsoka. Ahsoka took no offense and merely moved over to the opposite bench. Dex smiled and handed the two of them Menus. "You can get lost in these menus, so let me tell you that you have to try the fried nerf steak with protato wedges and pickled gartro eggs."

"Okay, is the Muja fruit juice good?"

"People say a lot of things about Dex's food, but trust me, he gets some _good_ ingredients." Ahsoka nodded.

"Can I take your order?" Helena looked up to see the droid waitress FLO standing there.

"Sure, my friend here will have the fried nerf steak and a glass of Muja juice. I'll have the Vorzyd slider and a glass of whole blue milk. And you can get us a Tibanna split to share after that with Trammistan chocolate ice cream."

"Sure thing, hon," said FLO as she wandered off.

"Tibanna split?" asked Ahsoka.

"Oh, its good, you'll see."

"So, how come you're free?"

"Well, because they 'gave' me a short period of leave."

"'Gave' you?"

"Yeah, they wanted to give me two weeks, I said one is fine." Ahsoka simply shook her head.

"So Haley, do you know who I talked to?"

"No?" asked Helena, wondering where she was going with this.

"Bardan Jusik," she said, giving her a suggestive look. That Haley understood, Bardan Jusik was a Jedi Knight who interacted with the Commando Squads Omega, Delta and the Null ARCs a fair amount. That Null ARC Ordo had seen them while they were on their date, oh…she knew where this was going now.

"Before you ask, yes, it went quite well."

"Did you guys share a dessert and a bottle of wine?" asked and excited Ahsoka.

"Yes, um," she started.

"Did you hold hands at the movie?" This time she had no answer, and simply blushed. "You did! Oh my, tell me more, tell me more!"

"Well it was one of the few times I saw Nyles in a suit."

"He wore a suit, classy. What did you wear?"

"Senator Amidala loaned me a dress," she started once more.

"You got loaned a dress by Senator Amidala?"

"Yeah, something about how Nyles and I were 'cute' together. That I deserved to wear something nice. I'm not sure if I agree."

"Did you hit your head recently?"

"No, why?" she asked frowning and then realization dawned on her "Oh, thank you Ahsoka."

"What else?"

"So he took me to this really nice Alderanian restaurant. We had a nice genuine conversation, figured out what we were."

"And your conclusion detective?"

"It's been long overdue."

**Commander N-9 Sharp**

"Arca company barracks, can't say that I'm glad to be back here." said Flare from the pilot's cabin of their borrowed gunship.

"Oh come on Flare, wasn't that bad. Company was great."

"Company was great, but it just reminded me of how little the Republic and Jetiise care about us."

"Well stomach it for a while, we're supposed to meet the others here." Flare's grunt said that he reluctantly agreed. Sharp sighed, he hated what the Kaminese had done to them. Sometimes he wanted to be one of the 'failures', but whenever he did, he reminded himself of Nyles. He wouldn't have it any other way now. But that was the funny thing wasn't it? Sometimes things that seemed bad, ended well.

"All right, Arca Air Control decided to let me land. We're here vode" announced Flare from the cockpit.

"Finally," said Deadeye.

The gunship touched down and the doors opened. The door to the cockpit pod docking area of the gunship opened up and Flare walked out. The entire squad stepped out onto the landing pad from where they stepped into the barracks itself. Waiting for them in the entry were the rest of the Null-class Advanced Reconnaissance Commandos.

"You finally made it!" called out A'den. A'den was always the more carefree of them.

"And miss the best evening of our lives?" he asked.

"Damn right it's going to be the best evening!" said Mereel. "It feels like such a long time."

Ordo almost smiled, "Don't worry about Mer'ika. He's just upset the GAR have a policy about drinking and flying." Laughter echoed in the entryway. "Come on guys, let's head to the Officer's Mess before those Mongrels finish all the alcohol."

As they all got into their respective gunships and synced squad COMs, Mereel and Flare put the gunships in the air and headed in the direction of the Officer's Mess. "So, how's Admiral Kote?" asked Ordo.

"You don't have to call him Admiral Kote, Ord'ika, there aren't any officers around" reminded Sharp.

"Well Besany and I saw Nyles and Agent Deviss on their date."

"Really? A second date?"

"Yeah, they had dinner and - "

Data cut in, "Went for a movie."

Sharp sighed, "Data, how many times have I told you not to slice your commanding officer's terminal."

"But sir, you said not to slice mongrel's terminals, Nyles isn't a mongrel." Everyone laughed.

"Don't worry about it. vod," said Jaing. "They don't understand us slicers."

"How's Darman and Etain doing?" asked Flare.

"They're fine, just have to lay low because of the stupid Jetiise."

"Maybe one day, we'll tell them to where to shove it."

Rain cut in, "Right up their shebs is the only place."

Prudii joined in, "They already have a stick there Rain, there's no space."

"Maybe that's why they're such di'kute," suggested Kom'rk, a smile forming on his face.

Before long the gunships landed and they walked into the Mess, where both clones and non-clone officers relaxed. Ordo and Sharp walked over to the bar "Netra'gal, all around" said Ordo. The bartender nodded once and began filling mugs and handing it out to the assembled Nulls. A'den picked up a spiced warra nut from the bowl in the bar and popped it into his mouth after removing his helmet.

He caught sight of a droid waiter, "Three plates of Nuna drumsticks, and three Exosquidra poppets."

"Of course Commander" replied the droid. It wasn't that the droid knew him, but that it had an inbuilt FOF tag reader.

Once they had all got their drinks Ordo got their attention, "Let's drink, to us Mando'ade, fighting the Republic's war without any thanks."

Ordo started the chant and they all joined in, soon all of the Clone personnel in the bar were joining in.

"_Buy'ce gal, buy'ce tal  
Vebor'ad ures aliit  
Mhi draar baat'i meg'parjii'se  
Kote lo'shebs'ul narit._"

There was much cheering in response following that, including several slightly inebriated officers getting Dha Werda Verda going. For a while the Nulls sat eating their food watching the performance until Data declared, "There doing it all wrong, let's join in and show them how it's done!"

Deadeye scrutinized it and concluded, "They're doing it fine ner vod, but I agree, we should join in."

A'den beat them all and got off the bar stool and walked over to the group, joining in. Soon they were all joining in. Sharp began to wonder as they continued, was what Jaster said true? Was being Mercenaries honorable? Were they really Mercenaries? The truth was that Mandos always needed a war to unite them, and the Clone Wars had really united the broken True Mandalorians. The Republic needed them, not the other way around.

It was then that a voice boomed across the room, "What the hell is going on? All of you stand down!" Everyone stopped and he and Ordo turned to look at the offender. It was a mustached man, his uniform read Ozzel and he had the bars of a Naval Captain.

Ordo walked over to him, "There a problem Captain?" asked Ordo.

"Absolutely, identify yourself trooper."

"Captain Ordo, GAR Special Operations Brigade."

"You will all cease and desist this instant."

"Not going to happen, Captain."

"Listen here _clone_, I'm going to spell this out for you." He poked a finger at Ordo "You. Will. Follow. Orders." Ordo looked at him and he nodded, as one they both threw a punch at Ozzel. Ozzel, amidst a bleeding nose stood up with the assistance of the other mongrel officers around him. Both he and Ordo had heard of this chaakar and the mission to Khorm. His orders had led to the death of scores of their vode.

"How dare you?" started Ozzel.

Sharp scowled at him, "Captain, I suggest you drop that tone."

"And who might give you that authority to speak to me," he started.

"The GAR, when they made me Commander of Shadow Legion. Like I remind every di'kut, this isn't your army to command, your just another client. You need us more than we need you. Now stand down, _Captain_." With some grumbling Ozzel stood down. Sharp just smiled and the festivities continued, in somewhat better spirit even, that fact that they were all free men affirmed once more.

**A/N: As a commander of a legion, Sharp is a Senior Clone Commander, putting him a pay grade higher than a Naval Captain.**

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Nyles?" he turned in his bed, the voice was familiar but he was too sleepy to care. "Nyles it's me, Helena." He opened his eyes, what was the time? It was shore leave and he was determined to stay in bed despite his body's natural tendency to wake up early.

"Morning Helena," he barely got out.

"Morning? Don't you mean afternoon."

"Afternoon? Did I sleep that long?"

"Looks like you did. I was wondering…"

"And what exactly might you have been wondering?"

"Do you want to go and grab a cup of caf together?"

"Caf? Sure, what time?"

"16:00 sound good?"

"Absolutely, where?"

"You remember that place you took me to when he came to Coruscant a while back?"

"Yeah, that place in CoCo Town? Val's Caf and Other Beverages?" It was a Corellian run tapcaf that they had visited a long time back. He remembered that when they came there, the proprietor, thought that they were dating. It was in a way ironic, and if he believed in that kind of thing, he would have said it was destiny.

"Yeah, my turn to drive, so you just sit tight."

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh and Nyles?"

"Yes Helena?"

"Please get out of your night clothes by the time I'm there."

"You got it." When the COM line cut Nyles jumped out of his bed and made his way to his sonic shower. Quickly finishing his shower he jumped into what he normally wore underneath his bodysuit, and then quickly jumped into his bodysuit and began attaching his armor plates. For him, armor was casual wear and uniform, and actually substituted a vast array of outfits.

He grabbed his disruptor pistol and two cells of 18 shots each. It was just a precaution that he took each time we went anywhere, even when in his cabin on the _Guardian_. He stepped out of his room and DW stopped him, "Master Nyles are you going out?"

"That's right DW, should be back soon."

"Very well, would you like me to bring your shuttle to the front?"

"It's on the landing pad DW," he said giving the droid a look.

"Oh, forgive me Master, I haven't updated my memory banks with the model of your new shuttle." There was an audible chime as the door bell was rung. "Permit me Master," said DW as he walked over and hit the door release switch. The door opened to reveal Helena Deviss, standing outside with a smile on her face. She was dressed in her signature black tank top, with a holster affixed to her thigh. "Miss Deviss, it is so nice to see you again."

"Been a while hasn't it DW, how's Nyles been treating you?"

"Master Nyles has been very busy, I do not blame him for not being home for such a long time," DW turned around, "Master Nyles, Miss Deviss is here."

He smiled, "I can see that DW, that'll be all." DW gave his version of an acknowledgement and stepped aside. Nyles stepped past him outside his apartment. "So, shall we?"

"Yeah, it's funny seeing DW again."

"Why so?"

"We were just in each other's lives so much, and then it all just stopped."

"Well, we're picking up where we left off."

She nodded, half smiling. "I suppose we are." They walked together toward her airspeeder.

"I see the old bird's still running."

"Oh, I take good care of her."

"I know you do," he said, slipping into the passenger's seat of the sleek airspeeder. Helena activated the speeder's engines, taking it off of the landing pad and putting it in a CoCo Town bound direction. "Good to see you can still fly."

"Well, all remember those flying sessions?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

"I was taught by the best."

He blushed, "You flatter me." She gave him the warmest smile he had seen her give. There was nothing about this moment that was not perfect. Nyles took a few moments to commit it to memory.

"How's the family Nyles?"

"Good, I asked Saram what she thought of that movie we watched. She seemed oddly supportive."

Helena gave him a look, "Hmm, that's interesting. I mean it was a good movie."

"Well, being there with you made it all the better."

"Now you're flattering me."

"Not at all, 'I never overstate things,'" he said giving her a smile.

"Well, ease up 'Rus', we're just going for some caf."

"Best timed shore leave ever." She smiled and dropped the speeder next to the tapcaf. It was made to look like a landed Corellian freighter and was often frequented by smugglers who likely used the model that it was made to look like. They stepped out of the speeder and walked over the entrance which was designed to be a loading ramp.

As they stepped in they were shown to a table by one of the droid servers. Nyles was about to say something when a voice boomed next to him, "Nyles Kote! My, my hasn't it been a while!" Nyles turned to see a potbellied Corellian wearing trousers with the traditional Corellian bloodstripe running down it. He had a greying beard and hair. "And is this Helena Deviss? Please tell me that this isn't another one you your 'not a date just friends' meetings?"

Nyles smiled, "No Val it's not." he felt his hand being clasped by her.

"I'm so happy you kids finally decided to get together. I would've blamed you for not coming to see old Val, but I know you kids must've been hard at work. Now, let me get you something, on the house. I can't charge you guys."

"Oh Val, we can't do that," said Helena.

"No, no, I insist."

Nyles knew just how insisting the old Corellian could be, "Alright Val, have it your way. I'll get a cup of caf topped with some foamed bantha milk. Helena?" Val nodded.

"I do love the caf with Trammistan hot cocoa."

"Caf with Trammistan hot cocoa it is," said Val, punching it into his datapad. "I'll leave the two of you to it."

He found himself staring for a moment at her, "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"

"Several times," she said, blushing.

"Really? Well, I should say it again. You're so beautiful. Too beautiful..."

"Okay, you need to stop."

"No, but you are..." Nyles cut himself off there. No analogies. Last time he did that, it...didn't quite come out right. He took her hand in his, running his thumb across the backs of her knuckles. "I am the luckiest guy ever."

"Well, maybe I should tell you that the Jedi know about our evening out, possibly quite a few of your men as well."

"Let me guess... Ordo mentioned it to Bardan?"

"Yep, had lunch with Ahsoka, she told me all about it."

"You had lunch with Ahsoka?"

"Yeah, took her to Dex's, showed her part of CoCo town. It's sad not being able to see the planet you've lived on for most of your life."

"That it is," he agreed.

"Oh Nyles I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about Mandalore."

"Don't worry about it," he said, giving her a supportive smile. "So, how was lunch otherwise?"

"It's nice to have a meal with a friend, haven't done it in so long. It was good, good food and good company. Although the food shouldn't be repeated too often, though can company could."

"Glad to see you and Ahsoka becoming friends."

"Yeah, so how's the ship?"

"Got a new one, a whole battle group in fact."

"Did you forget what branch I work for?"

"Momentarily. You're too nice to be a spy."

"Well sometimes I have to appear nice, but in your case it's genuine."

He let out a short laugh. Val came back again this time with two cups of caf. "Here you go, enjoy."

He thanked Val, "Thanks Val." Nyles picked up his cup and took a sip. The slight bitter taste of the caf spread across his taste buds. The caffeine was exactly what he needed to wake him up.

"Mmm, just as good as I remember," he said.

"You always were a sucker for good caf."

"True."

"So what's your crew up to?"

"The entire battle group Defender has shore leave."

"The _entire_ battle group? I'm not sure the city can handle that many Mandos unleashed on it at once."

"It'll be fine," he said, dismissing the idea with a wave. Although he did grin a little.

She smiled, "Thanks for the disruptors and the VSR by the way."

"No problem, our tastes are very similar." They both smiled at each other once more before taking a sip of caf. Before long they had finished their drinks and they were exiting the building, hand in hand. The sun was up and it felt relaxing to walk and so they took a longer route to Helena's speeder.

"Excuse me sir, but could I bother you for directions?" Nyles turned to see an elderly woman.

"Uh, of course ma'am, where are you looking to go?"

"I'm trying to get to Dex's Diner, I'm supposed to meet my son there."

"Oh, well, if you keep walking down this road then you should see it after the second right."

The old lady was about to thank him when they heard the crunching of bones. "A couple inches more and you'll have to worry about more than a broken wrist and dislocated shoulder" said Helena, holding a man's hand in a disarming grip. When given looks of shock from both him and the old lady she shrugged, "What, he was trying to steal my purse."

He turned to the old lady, "Go ahead ma'am, have a nice meal." When the old lady was out of view he turned back toward Helena, "Well, I guess I didn't need to do anything heroic."

She gave him a look and then dropped the purse snatcher who ran, "Saving me from Separatist backed gangsters on Perma wasn't enough? Ease up Nyles, color me impressed in any case."

Nyles shook his head, just another average day in the life of Agent Helena Deviss.

**Till next time…**


	13. Chapter 13 - Landing at Point Rain

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 13 – The Landing at Point Rain

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Nyles awoke to his datapad beeping, who could possibly want to speak with him at this hour in the morning? He looked up and saw that it was from Naval Command. He stood up straighter in his bed and made himself look a little more decent before answering. "Admiral Kote here."

The man who answered was a young junior officer, "Sorry to disturb you Admiral, but you need to come to Naval Command HQ now. There is a matter of grave importance that needs attending to."

"What exactly is this 'matter of grave importance'?"

"Sir I shouldn't say over an insecure line."

Nyles ran the standard encryption protocols, "It's secure now, so tell me what exactly is going on?"

"It's Geonosis sir, we've lost contact with the planetary garrison." What? How was that possible? There was a considerably sizable force stationed on Geonosis, how was it going to be taken just like that? Whatever was going on, he now understood the brevity of the situation. "I'm on my way." The officer on the Hologram snapped off a salute and cut the COM. He set his Caf machine to brew and set some Foodboard to toast. Nyles got out of bed and quickly jumped into the refresher and once he had freshened up he jumped into fresh underclothes and slipped on his armor bodysuit before donning the plates themselves.

Grabbing his weapons on the way, he headed downstairs. He grabbed the cup of caf and quickly devoured the toasted Foodboard after placing a slice of roasted Nuna breast on it. Nyles put the crockery and cutlery away and headed for his speeder. Stepping inside he activated the engines, and slammed on the throttle, sending the craft into the air. He made for the Naval Command HQ and eventually he was contacted by the Air Control Tower, "Admiral Kote, please proceed to Docking Bay 01 - A." Nyles directed the shuttle into the hanger in the side of the building, bringing the shuttle down on its landing struts in the designated bay. The bay itself was a hive of activity, ships were constantly arriving and leaving.

He dropped the ramp and walked down it quickly, heading for the entrance to the building. Once he entered the building, the same officer who contacted him earlier was waiting for him in the lobby. There were all sorts of personnel moving with purpose in the lobby, more so than normal even during a period of war like this "This way Admiral" he said, gesturing toward a nearby elevator. Nyles nodded and stepped into the elevator. "It's hectic sir, they're mobilizing a sizable fleet to retake the planet. I heard from Logistics that entire _Legions_ of troops are being committed to the assault."

"Don't be surprised, underestimating the Separatists is the worst thing we can do."

"It's why we called in some of our best," he said with the slightest of smirks. The elevator dinged to signify that it was on the right floor. The officer stepped out and gestured for Nyles to do so after him. They stepped past several Ensigns and finally they reached the room where the meeting was being held. The door opened for the two of them and they stepped inside.

There were a lot of people in this room that he recognized, Captain Pellaeon, Admiral Yualaren, Jango Fett, and several Jedi including Anakin, Obi Wan, Ki Adi Mundi and Luminara Unduli. "Admiral Kote, nice to see that you've finally decided to join us." Nyles ignored the comment from the Mirialan Jedi Master.

"According to the intelligence we've managed to gather there is a sizable Separatist fleet in orbit of the planet," said one of the other Admirals.

"What about the Geonosian Dreadnoughts?" Nyles asked, Separatist fleets were easy to handle, save for the occasional Providence and Lucrehulk.

"According to INTEL Admiral, none have been sighted."

Jango cleared his throat, "We've been able piece together a topographical map. We will not attempt a landing until the space has been cleared. Losing gunships and bombers to a fighter screen would severely compromise this operation's chances at success. Though, we have done more with less before... The more time we give them to reinforce and dig in, the harder retaking the planet will be."

"All Venator-class ships will provide long ranged fire support alone, unless Battle group Defender is overwhelmed. All Acclamator-class ships will move in under cover from Phalanx Assault Frigates and Arrow Gunboats, as discussed earlier," said Admiral Yualaren.

Jango nodded, "Additionally, Shadow Legion will deploy first and establish a beachhead with Arrow Gunboats providing CAS so that the rest of the older gunships can move in under heavy fighter escort into a safe landing zone. Once we have taken the planet's gravity well, we can make a more detailed scan in preparation for the planning of our main assault on the droids."

"This meeting is adjourned, all Fleet Officers are required to board your ships and ensure that they are ready to leave by 19:00. Ground Commanders, make sure your equipment is stowed at least an hour prior to departure."

Nyles headed off in the direction of the hangar with Jango hot on his heels, "So we're finally getting to work alongside each other, eh Nyles?"

"It's exciting, 'Alor. I wanted to ask, you have no problems returning to this planet?"

"Not at all, this planet was where I realized the wrong I was doing in my life. I started my campaign against Dooku and all others who wronged us on this planet. Seems right to come back here, somehow."

"In that case, let's go," Nyles said stepping into the hangar and walking over to where his shuttle was parked. He keyed the activation macro on his wrist COM. The two of them stepped into the shuttle, with Jango getting into the copilot's seat. Nyles activated the engines and set course for the_Guardian_. Weaving through the rush hour congested skylanes of Coruscant by way of the emergency skylane, they soon broke orbit. Ahead of them Nyles could see the _Guardian._ From the looks of things, his men were already there and were prepping both the ground contingent and the various squadrons and support ships aboard. The two other ships in battle group Defender, the _Gra'tua _and the _Liberty_ were both doing the same thing as well.

Nyles flew into the Hangar and set the shuttle down in its designated landing spot and lowered the ramp. "Welcome aboard the _Guardian_ again, 'Alor."

As they walked away from the shuttle, Nyles could see gunships dropping of Shadow Legion troopers. One gunship whose insignia of a predatory bird's talons near the turrets set down, Nyles knew that this was Aurek 1-1. The doors opened with a hiss and out stepped Squad 14, "General Fett, Admiral Nyles, Squad 14 ready."

"Sharp, you and the rest of Shadow are under General Fett's command for this operation."

"Got it Nyles. General Fett what are your orders?"

"I want a regiment of your most heavily armed and armored men to hold the landing zone at Point Rain, and then I need your best engineers to help erect defenses so we can use it as a staging point."

"I can get that done," said Sharp.

"Good man. Secure some walkers as well."

Sharp nodded and Squad 12 disappeared to carry out Jango's orders. "What do you need battle group Defender to do, 'Alor?"

"As discussed, your gunboats are our CAS support. Anything else you can give?"

"Once we have completely secured the gravity well, I can divert every squadron I have to assist. Once we've broken through the initial defenses, Basilisk and Aurek will be on station."

"Alright, let's get to it." Nyles was about to make his way to the bridge when a black MAAT/SOH flew in. The crew paid it no mind, continuing their assigned duties. Nyles could see the tweaked power output of the gunship's main guns on his HUD – there were few people who modified the two RXD-214B Heavy Plasma Cannons on the front of the MAAT to stutter fire. One of them was a pilot in Talon's flight, the other was Mereel Skirata.

The gunship doors opened with a hiss and the first to step out were two Clone Assassins: Glaive and Scythe. The next to step out were Ordo, A'den, Jaing, Prudii and Mereel. In front of them stepped out Agent Helena Deviss and walked over to the front of the assembled troopers. They all snapped of smart salutes, "Intelligence Taskforce Shadowclaw reporting for duty, sirs."

Mereel added in, "We know it sounds stupid, sir. It wasn't our decision." Ordo gave him a look.

Jango nodded, "At ease, all of you." They let their arms drop to their sides. "The seven of you come with me, Agent Deviss, go with the Admiral and find a briefing room to set up in."

She walked over to Nyles, "Temperature controlled stealth suit," Nyles noted. "I guess you're not here to say good bye, Agent." They were on duty now, and he hadn't just picked her up from Perma, not one was going to take fraternization at a time like this lightly.

"It's Special Agent now, and no, I am not here to say good bye, Admiral. I'm acting as liaison." She confirmed that fact that they would need to stay formal.

"Very well Agent, the briefing room are down the hallway just ahead of you. Allow me." He walked with her and stepped into the said hallway. "Take whichever one you want." She nodded and stepped into the room on their left. Nyles turned and headed toward the bridge. He realized that this would be the first time that he would be working with Jango and Helena in a more professional sense. How was he supposed to act? Jango would always be 'Alor to him, and it would be alright to act the same way he did normally around him, just keep personal conversation to a minimum. Helena was a different story, he had to keep their interactions strictly professional.

Nyles stepped onto the bridge, "Sir, what are your orders?" asked Blade.

"Make sure we're stocked up on supplies, spares and munitions. Check and recheck every system. I want to make sure that the maintenance cycle was done right. Warm up the fabricator and make sure that we're stocked on fuel for it." He paused for a moment, "Remove the safeties on the FATC and make sure it's ready to fire."

Blade nodded. "Yes, sir, we're on it."

Nyles sighed, this was easily one of the largest combined arms operations that the Republic was undertaking. The number of troops and starships allocated to the assault was mind blowing, however he knew that the foundries on the planet were more than worth fighting to keep the Separatists off of. The Mandalorians had a hard enough job when they became the Republic's Army, but if the Separatists were allowed to hold and make use of those factories then the chances of them winning this war was all the more difficult.

In a few hours the fleet would be assembled and they would be once more assaulting the planet. There were a few veterans of Geonosis in every Legion on the Republic Ships heading to Geonosis. Nyles couldn't imagine what they were feeling, they had to have seen brothers die, they had to have seen the so-called invincible Jedi dropping to the floor. Nyles couldn't imagine if the Jedi alone had to lead the war, they weren't ready, they weren't a fighting force. They were peacekeepers and while they were very, _very_ good at what they did. War just wasn't their forte, history bore witness.

The numerous conflicts against the Sith were only stopped because the di'kutla darjetii always weakened their effort with infighting. At least that was what the history books said, and the victors always wrote them. Who knows, maybe the Jedi were excellent commanders and they wrote history so that when the time came to lead they would be underestimated by their enemies, the greatest weapon.

Normally before an assault he would head below decks to check on Sharp, but Jango was there now, and he had that covered. The GAR in all honesty was held together by spit, luck and adhesive tape **(Love this line)**. Between Jango and the other Mandalorians, the other Officers, the Bureaucracy and the Jedi – the only thing keeping them from ripping each other apart from sheer distrust of each other was the common enemy of the Separatists . Not that the war wasn't healing some of the wounds between his people and the Jedi, and there were several officers who he could respect. After all, friendships forged in the fires of war were often the strongest.

But there was some distrust that war only served to fester. Namely, the distrust between a fighting force and the bureaucracy it defends. That was something only time could tell, whether the Republic would survive, or will its people be left with a broken alliance of planets. In a couple of hours the fleets were ready and ground forces had boarded the Navy Vessels ready to take them into battle. "Sir, Defender is ready, we're waiting on the other ships."

A chorus of confirmations echoed through the bridge speakers before Nyles finally uttered battle group Defender's. "This is Admiral Kote, battle group Defender is ready to jump."

"All ships, jump to Hyperspace," came the final word from Admiral Yualaren in the lead Venator. Nyles heard the hum as the Hyperdrive activated, sending them into the alternate dimension of Hyperspace. "Blade, tell our fighters and interceptors to get ready to launch. Hold the bombers, if what I have planned works we won't need them."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then there are two possibilities, we blow up or we miss and hit the surface."

"With that weapon sir, _both_ are possibilities."

"It's time to show the Seppies and their darjetii leader that the adiik gloves are off."

"We should have removed them a while ago sir."

"We didn't have anything but adiik size for the longest while Blade, don't forget that," he joked about the quality of GAR and Navy equipment.

"How could I sir, when we were all wearing them?" said Blade, in on the joke. Nyles chuckled and nodded.

"Charge it," he ordered.

Before long the klaxons blared, alerting everyone on the ship to get to their positions as the ship was exiting Hyperspace. Blade reminded everyone of what they need to do, "This is a general quarters alert! All personnel to your stations, repeat, all personnel to your stations! All fighter and interceptor squadron prepare to launch. All Phalanx Assault Frigates prepare for deployment. Drop Bay 1-A, 1-B, 1-C and 1-D, prepare to depressurize and seal bulkheads."

The Republic Fleet came out of Hyperspace with battle group defender in the center and the Venators and Acclamators arrayed around. The Separatist Fleet loomed in the distance. "Blade, prepare the FATC for pulse mode, push the reactor if you have to. We're going to play sharp shooter." Blade nodded. "All ships, this is the Guardian, do not engage the Separatists at close range. We are firing our FATC. Repeat, we are firing our FATC." He got silent affirmations from the commanders of the other ships. He turned toward Blade, "Are we ready to fire?"

"Sir, at your command."

The FATC was charged on the way here, all he was doing was configuring the accelerators to fire concentrated pulses instead of firing a pure beam of unstable energy at the target that would proceed to wipe the fleet out. Not all their cards needed to be shown. "Target the Lucrehulk and fire." The lights on the bridge dimmed as the weapon fired once. The brilliant blue pulse shot out and impacted with the Lucrehulk in a huge explosion that when cleared, showed a shattered Lucrehulk. He had five pulses left. "Take out that Providence on its starboard and then the one on port." The Separatist fleet now didn't attempt to hold position but tried to advance on the Republic fleet in an attempt to throw their targeting off. The Providence was not fast enough and it suffered a similar fate to the Lucrehulk.

The _Guardian_ adjusted its position using massive maneuvering thrusters so that the prow mounted cannon was facing the second Providence. The lights dimmed once more as the ship fired its cannon and devastated the second Providence as well. "Reroute the power from the cannon. Prepare to open up with Long Range Disruptors." Nyles got on the fleet COM, "All ships, this is Admiral Nyles, feel free to break and engage." The two Republic Battleships oriented their weapons toward the Separatist frigates that blindly charged the Republic Fleet.

The entire fleet fired, Blue Turbolasers and Purples Disruptors the Separatist Frigates were stopped by the hellish barrage of weapon fire. The lead frigate was almost completely vaporized, the ones behind it suffered a largely similar fate. The shear amount of firepower crushed their ships within seconds. Nyles watched the hulls of the Separatist Munificent Frigates drift dead in space, they had won the space battle.

"Tell General Fett he's clear to deploy."

**General Jango Fett**

Jango turned toward the loudspeaker as it broadcasted its message, "Ground assault is a go, repeat, ground assault has been cleared."

Jango turned toward Sharp, "That's our cue." Sharp nodded and ran to marshal his men into the waiting gunships. Jango turned toward the commander of the company of engineers, Captain Ratchet. "Captain, are your men ready?"

"Ready as they'll ever be, General. Who'd ever believe that we'd be back here?"

"It's hard to believe, but I need all of you at your best."

Ratchet nodded, "You keep them off our backs sir, and we can focus on getting those defenses up and not helping you blast droids."

Jango smiled. Sometimes, when the faceless white helmet came down, it was easy to forget they were his clones. And sometimes he felt like he was talking to himself at a younger age. Of course, since they were clones, that didn't sound nearly as crazy as it should have.

Jango left the engineers and looked at the large Assault Walkers being attached underneath the MAAT/Cs as well as the heavily modified AT-TEs. Whatever said and done, the MPAC fitted on the AT-TEs used by this legion were some of the better long ranged weapons available to GAR personnel. After landing they would bring in the Bha'lir tanks. Soon everyone was assembled and Jango bumped the volume of his helmet's speakers. "All right, I know that for many of you this is the second time you are having to set foot on this planet. But remember, this is for the rest of our vode! If the Separatists maintain control of the those factories, then our job becomes almost impossible. That is why we are here. We will shut down those factories and find whatever Separatist is hiding behind that ray shielded factory and shoot him like hutuun that he is. So, let's go down there and secure a landing zone for the rest of our vode and the Jetiise. Oya!"

"Oya!" echoed out the collection of pilots and troopers. Jango nodded as he walked toward the gunship that Sharp was in. The doors shut as the troop carrying gunships left that hangar, followed out by dedicated gunship variants. The gunships flew over to where the six Arrow Gunboats waited before the entire group approached the planet.

As soon as they broke atmosphere Talon warned them about incoming Geonosian fighters. "We've got incoming Geonosian Fighters, brace!" All the troopers grabbed onto handholds. Jango looked cargo hold at the heavily armed troopers. They carried either the PX-15A with under barrel grenade launcher or the DX-16 Disruptor Rifle and a combination of either an FA-3 Flechette launcher, PLEX-4A, Z-7 Plasma Rotary Cannon, PX-20 Plasma Repeater, DX-22 SRS or an Arakyd Industries Multiple Ordinance Launcher.

Rain broke the silence in the cabin, "Isn't it great that they named the landing point after me?"

Sharp corrected him, "It wasn't named after you, it was…actually why the kriff did they name it that?"

Data shrugged, and he usually knew the answer to sort of question, "Beats me sir, maybe they _did_ name it after our dini'la vod over here."

Rain protested, "Hey, I'm not dini'la." He paused for a moment and then continued, "Only partially dini'la." The entire cabin broke out in laughter, Rain looked offended. "Tell them, General."

Jango was about to speak when the gunship was rocked from side to side as the few Geonosian fighters that made it through the defending gunships and gunboats took a few potshots before they were swatted out of existence by the aforementioned ships. Talon informed them of their progress, "General, we're close to the landing zone but there's heavy flak!"

"We do not land behind, suppress their triple-A and get us to that landing zone," he ordered.

"Got it sir, this is Aurek 1-1 to all Arrow call signs, I don't know how long we're going to hold together under that flak!"

"Arrow -1 to Arrow -3, break formation and follow me, we're going to give those droids and bugs hell." From inside the cabin of the gunship Jango could hear the whine of the gunboats as they accelerated toward the droid positions. Jango felt the gunship adjust position as the other gunboats adjusted position so that they could better cover the swarm of gunships.

Jango felt the gunship descending, "We're approaching the LZ, standby." The cabin was washed in a red light. Troopers all around him readied their weapons. Jango pulled his pistols free of their holsters. "Green light," announced Talon as the light changed from red to green "Go, go!" called out Talon. Sharp and Razor marshaled their troops forward.

"Hold the line! We hold them here! Remember, we need to keep these droids off of our Engineers!" called out Sharp. Assault Walkers added to the cacophony of blaster fire as the regiment unleashed hell on the droids. Ahead he could see the two Arrow gunboats returning into formation ahead with the other four. Shadow Legion snipers set their rifles up as the troopers carrying shorter ranged weapons moved forward vaporizing the droids. Jango motioned the Engineers forward. Ratchet took a small squad and began working on the generator dropped in the center of the troopers. The AT-TEs formed a rough perimeter around them that was to be the size of the staging point's primary perimeter.

Droids rolled over the hill continuously but between the six gunboats and the gunships they weren't making any headway. Jango could see the Engineers had finished two of the Defense Towers but were working on a landing pad. Amidst firing at the droids he turned toward Ratchet, "Forget the pads, get the weapon emplacements up first!" Ratchet nodded and left a couple squads to work on the pad and directed the others to work on the Gun Towers.

By now power cells were running dry and shouts of, "Reloading, cover me!" could be heard. Jango's own pistols were down to half a cell each and by now there was a large pile of Battledroids, Geonosians and a few destroyed tanks dotting the hill with only a few wounded troopers because of the six gunboats hovering above them. Jango was watching as one of the gunboats was dropping in one of the artillery cannons when suddenly two Munificent Frigates jumped in just ahead of them. Shab, this was not going to end well.

"Arrow – 1 to General Fett and Commander Sharp, we'll take care of those Frigates, but don't expect us to be back any time soon. The gunboats broke into two groups of three and like a pod of aiwhas moved to attack the two frigates. The one carrying the artillery cannon dropped it. The Cannon dropped to the floor with a dull thud, sending sand flying everywhere and engineers diving for cover for fear that it would collapse. Jango himself braced, but when the dust cleared he could see that the cannon was upright.

"Get that cannon operational!"

Ratchet nodded, "On it General, but we don't have anybody who can fire that thing!"

Jango remembered Rain was trained in the use of artillery weapons, "Rain! Get over here!" Rain stopped firing at the new wave of droids that came unmolested by fire from the gunboats, which were now engaging the frigates, and ran over.

"What do you need General?"

"Can you calibrate and fire that cannon?"

"Can an Akk dog chase its own tail?"

"Then get your shebs up there and take those shabla droids out!"

Rain ran over to the artillery cannon and clambered up to its control pod. Jango sighed and turned his attention back to the droids. Amidst the chaos he could occasionally see a gunboat fly past. They opened up with heavy plasma weapons, missiles and disruptors, as they removed engine safeties to execute dives and rolls around the frigate. Several times the Frigates' gunners missed the gunboats and hit their own positions instead.

The Separatist Frigates wizened up and began moving away, with the gunboats giving chase. Jango got on the COM to Rain, "We've just lost gunboat support, please tell me you have that artillery cannon up."

"I said eleven degrees, are you even listening?" Rain broke off from berating his fellow clone to reply to Jango in a cheerful voice. "Oh, you'll have artillery support in just a minute, General."

"Have you seen the number of droids they're throwing at us? Gunships are barely keeping the fighters off of us. Get that cannon up, Rain!" Jango saw tanks coming at them from over the horizon. One of them fired, taking out three troopers. Their screams echoed over the COM. "Rain!"

"I'm trying!"

"Now!" The cannon fired and the tank was obliterated in a ball of electromagnetic plasma. Then the one next to it a moment later. Jango sighed.

"I'm sorry sir," came Rain's reply.

"It's alright Ra'ika, happens to the best of us," he closed his mind for a moment. He switched channels to Nyles, "We've established a beachhead, it'll be a while before it becomes a staging point. Send in the others, I'll send Basilisk back, leave Aurek with us. Send Shadowclaw in."

"Great job 'Alor. We're still mopping up Seppy forces, but as soon as my fighters and bombers are done I'll divert them." Jango nodded, despite all odds, they had taken Point Rain. Now, they just had to hold it.

**General Obi Wan Kenobi**

Obi Wan stared at the planet as the cruiser approached. "I cannot believe we're back here again." Obi Wan that it was not only hard for him and the other Jedi veterans of the battle, but the Clones and even Jango himself. And yet, he was down there fighting, and both he and many other Jedi would join him.

Ki Adi Mundi agreed, "It is unfortunate." The sound of the door to the bridge opening caught both their attention for a brief moment before he started speaking again, "The resistance from the native Geonosians was stronger than we expected."

"The same can be said for their loyalty to Count Dooku."

"A fact that is often overlooked."

He turned to Anakin and Ahsoka, "You're late."

"Sorry Master," said Anakin, out of force of habit. "Ahsoka and I were busy helping the Admiral with the rest of the Seppy fleet."

"My squadron alone, had 55 kills."

Anakin gave a slight nod, "Yeah, but _mine _had 76."

Ahsoka shook her head, "Showoff."

The doors to the bridge opened and the armored form of Admiral Kote walked over to them, "A Lucrehulk, two Providence and assorted Frigates and Fighters. That has to count for something, right?"

Ahsoka frowned, "No fair! You have a dreadnought. Besides don't those kills go to your gunners, or Commander Blade?"

"Of course, but we're all one big team... Everyone shares the kills."

Obi Wan gave them all a slightly perplexed look, "Well, I'm glad you three are enjoying this."

"It's just a little friendly competition, Master, even if _some _of us are cheating."

"Don't be a sore loser, Jedi," Nyles joked.

"What I worry about is the way this war seems to be drawing out... with no end in sight," he concluded ruefully.

"Which is why it is crucial that our invasion of Geonosis meets with success" concluded Ki Adi Mundi.

"Agreed." The doors opened revealing Captain Rex, Commander Jet and Commander Cody.

Ahsoka turned toward Nyles, "Where's Sharp?"

Before Nyles could answer, Cody did. "He's getting his shebs shot at ma'am." Obi Wan frowned slightly. Mandalorian wasn't an overly commonly known language, but some words needed no translation. "That was an oddly... vivid description."

Nyles cleared his throat. "Alright, General Fett has broken through their front line and has set up a beach head. Generals Kenobi, Skywalker and Mundi will make their way past their defensive lines under gunship support. Once the three of you land, it's up to you to take out the AA defenses and the shield generator. After that, I can start dropping in support and divert more aircraft to assist."

Ki Adi joined in, "If any of us are forced down, then the rest of us must hold out until we can all consolidate our forces for the final assault."

"Look at that wall, with all the gun emplacements."

"Don't worry, Snips. We won't be going anywhere near that."

Nyles smiled, "Come now, what happened to all that enthusiasm you showed earlier?"

"You don't worry about me, just make sure you get yourself to that landing zone."

"Yes, I shall be waiting for you when you finally arrive."

"Gentlemen, if you're quite finished we have a battle to join," said Master Luminara.

The Admiral cut in, "The droids have frigates in atmo, General Fett has reported some between us and the beachhead, I've sent in my Phalanx Assault Frigates, but be careful. Remember, it's better to wait until the flight path is clear than to get shot down."

"Quite right," Obiwan said quickly, "Cody, prep the gunships. I'll meet you in the hangar."

Cody nodded, "Yes sir!"

Before long he was in the hangar with Cody, he had just asked Cody about something that was on his mind for a while, "What does ''ika' mean?"

"Well sir, it's a way of showing affection."

Before Cody could continue he cut him off, "Affection?"

"In a way. Why?"

"Nothing, just this planet reminded me of something a particular someone said to me, did you participate in the first battle of Geonosis?"

"No sir, I was not involved in the first assault on Geonosis."

"Well, you didn't miss much. Last time, I was chained to a pole and attacked by several humungous monsters."

"That sounds..." Cody stopped for a moment to look for the right word. "Entertaining."

Obiwan nodded, "Oh it was. For the Geonosians." The gunship doors closed and the gunship moved on.

"This is Basilisk 1-1. Warthog, all gunships form up behind us and stay frosty. He didn't see any fighters on the way here, but you never know."

Their gunship pilot acknowledged, "Roger 1-1, we copy. Forming up." Obi Wan felt the gunship move as the gunship adjusted its position.

"This is Phalanx Assault Frigate Gata'dr – 1, we've broken the defensive lines, should be smooth sailing from here!" Obi Wan let out a sigh of relief until the radio crackled again. "Scratch that, Munificent Frigates, all gunships, execute evasive maneuvers, we'll try and take them out!" From the viewports Obi Wan could see as the Separatist Frigates ignored the hellish assault being dished out by the Republic Frigates and instead opened fire on the gunships. He could see a LAAT/c and a LAAT/I get hit and explode. Then he watched helplessly as a bolt struck his gunship.

"We're going down! Hold on, I'll try and bring her in smooth!" yelled the pilot. Obi Wan noted that they were coming in very fast, something the pilot announced as well, "We're coming in too fast! Brace, brace, brace!"

Obi Wan closed his eyes and did as instructed, he was thrown about the cabin and he finally hit something, turning his world black.

**General Jango Fett**

Jango watched as the gunships landed to drop off Republic troops and then took off to provide support. Jango watched as the perimeter laser wall hummed to life, giving them more much needed cover. The generator came to life and so did the defense towers around the base. The fatigued soldiers of Shadow Legion cheered as not only the above happened but more troops from 212th came to assist. They were followed by Commander Jet's men and Torrent Company, that told him that Mundi and Skywalker had made it.

He got on the COM to Talon, "Talon, where's Kenobi?"

"I don't know sir, two of the gunships that under General Kenobi made it in, two others didn't. I have reports of a gunship crash not far from your position, survivors, and one of them isn't a clone."

"Shab, alright. Keep them off our back just a little longer, I'm going to see what I can do."

Jango turned toward Wraith, "Wraith, bring one of your men and come with me." Wraith nodded, getting the attention of one of his men and joined him in walking over to Cody, "Cody, I need two of your best scouts."

"Yes, General! Waxer, Boil, get your shebs here." Two of his men stopped firing and walked over.

Boil saluted, "Boil, reporting as ordered sir!"

Waxer did the same, "Waxer, reporting as ordered sir!"

"The two of you follow General Fett. Sir, I can spare more of my men if you need them."

"No, just keep us covered, divert too many of our men and they'll know something is wrong."

"We've got your back ,sir!"

Jango nodded and the gate on the rear side of the staging area opened for him, as he and the troopers stepped out running toward the gunship amidst heavy fire. They sprinted together until they reached the gunship. They pressed their back to the hull. Jango could hear whispers of "Reinforcements?", "A rescue, finally" and a weaker "Just get us out of here."

Jango sighed, there were a lot more survivors than he had first thought. "Wraith, we can't get them all out of here alone."

Jango looked up as he heard a new voice "We've got your back General." It was none other than ARC Trooper Ordo, beside him were Mereel, Jaing, Prudii and A'den.

"It's good to see you boys," he took a breath. "Waxer, Boil get these doors open. Wraith, you prepare to cover us. The rest of us are going to get them out of here. We don't leave anyone behind, especially our vode and certainly not a Jetii." Ordo nodded and Waxer and Boil pulled the doors apart.

"Jango, it's good to see you. I didn't think you'd come."

"Like I said, we don't leave anyone behind."

He helped Kenobi to his feet and was about to leave when their position was assaulted, two bolts hit Ordo and Jaing but their shields flashed, absorbing the attack. He got on the COM to Cody, "Cover fire! Now!" A sea of blue blasters flew over their position. Jango listened and heard that some of the impacts were close. The droids were almost on them.

The six survivors were helped to their feet, with only Mereel, Wraith and his squad mate having their hands completely free. They moved, but they were far slower. Jango fired at droids that approached behind them. Two bolts hit his back, dropping the shield strength indicator in his HUD. "Leave me, save yourself."

"I'm not leaving a friend of mine to these droids!" he said, amidst trying to move and shoot.

"I don't feel that way about you Jango."

Jango's soldier instincts were the only reason he didn't stop and stare at the Jedi, "What the kriff are you talking about, Kenobi?"

"I don't swing that way."

"_When _did I give you the impression that_ I_ did?"

"When we were on our way to Rodia, you," he emitted a grunt of pain, "Cody said it's a way of showing affection, calling someone ''ika.'"

Another bolt hit him and his weakened shields dropped to half, "Could you have picked a worse moment to ask stupid kriffing questions like this?" he cursed, in basic so Obi Wan could understand his point.

Obi Wan gave him a sarcastic look, "We're surrounded and we might die, so why not?"

Jango turned and fired every round in the power cell followed by a wrist missile, wiping out a large contingent of droids. "It means 'little'! Nothing more, it's like a way of showing friendship, or affection. In that case, friendship. Damn it Jetii!" They had finally made it to the staging point and Jango made it to the gate, but just not in yet. Another bolt hit his back and he threw both him and Obi Wan past the gate, which closed behind them. Both Mandalorian and Jedi lay in the sand, fatigued.

"'Little', are you sure?"

"Which one of us speaks Mandalorian fluently...?" Jango turned and gave him a 'Are you kriffing serious?' look. For Jango that meant staring at him, presenting nothing but a blank helmet.

"Right, well, I don't object to that at all, then."

"...Fantastic."

**So because I'm a scrub, I've been forgetting to thank Anakyrie for betaing for me. Thanks, don't know what I'd do. Till next time…**


	14. Chapter 14 - Battle for Geonosis

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 14 – The Battle for Geonosis Continues

**General Jango Fett**

Jango picked himself off of the ground and took a breath, Obi-Wan was injured, he was not. He had no excuse to lie there in the sand. He turned toward Cody, "Get General Kenobi to a med bay."

Cody nodded, snapping off a salute "Sir!" Jango helped the Jedi Master to his feet before handing him to a medic who had walked over. The droid assault had since stopped and now their objective was to destroy the shield generator that was preventing them from launching a full out assault on the droid foundry.

"Thank you Jango," said Obi-Wan as he was led away.

"Just be ready when we take that factory!" called Anakin after him. The young Jedi turned toward him, "Speaking of which, what is our plan of attack?"

Seeing that both Sharp and General Mundi had walked over Jango decided to start his briefing, "The original plan was to send a small team to jam their scanners, but our Naval Fleet has realized that the generator is projecting only a ray shield, not a particle shield. The Mass Drivers on our Gunships, AT-TE walkers and the MPACs on a Phalanx Assault Frigate should be able to bypass it. So, we will wait for our Frigates to get in range and take out those guns and that shield generator. At that point Generals Skywalker, Mundi and I will deploy in gunships and remove that generator. From there, we will make ready for the assault on the factory."

Mundi nodded, "That appears to be a sound plan."

Skywalker nodded, "Yes. Once we get that shield down, I assume we can count on more armored support?"

"That's right Skywalker, we're all bunched up right now, a well-placed artillery strike would take us all out. That's why we're going to wait until we've moved up."

"Alright, let's do this."

He nodded, "Gata'dr – 1 through 4, this is General Fett, target Separatist AA guns with MPACs. Be advised, engage at extreme range."

"Gata'dr – 1 copies General. Come on boys, it's time to kick some shebs."

Jango walked over to Sharp, who turned toward him, "General Fett, Aurek Flight is ready."

"Good, let's move, we need to be ready to move the second that shield comes down." Jango, Sharp and the rest of the regiment from Shadow walked toward their gunships, as did their comrades from Torrent Company and Commander Jet's men. The gunships took off, leaving the 212th to defend the beachhead. Jango watched as yellow MPAC rounds flew underneath their gunship, making a shrill sound as it did so and as it passed through the shield. It impacted with a Separatist guns emplacement, producing a muffled explosion. More rounds followed the first, peppering the hill that the Separatist gun emplacements were on. One by one the gun emplacements went down. The Frigates shifted their target, the shield generator took two rounds before it collapsed, the red shield dispersing.

"Gata'dr – 1 to all gunships, gun emplacements and shield generator down, you are all clear!"

"Talon, take us in," ordered Jango.

"Roger that!" came Talon's response. Jango felt the gunship accelerate as it flew toward the remaining droid and Geonosian forces. Jango felt the floor vibrate underneath as the gunship opened fire tearing into the Geonosians. The gunship set down, Jango could hear sounds of blaster fire from inside the cabin. The doors opened with a hiss, he pulled his pistols free of their holsters and let loose a burst at two Geonosians. Sharp slotted a droid next to him while he dropped three more Geonosians. Skywalker and Mundi's troops rounded the corner and opened fire as well, the last few Geonosians threw their weapons down in surrender.

Jango knew that these Geonosians would know nothing, and he had seen a number of them capture some of Mundi, Skywalker and his men during the earlier battle, he had no intention of letting them live the relatively comfortable life of a prisoner of war. He aimed his pistols and dropped tow, Sharp and Commander Jet shared his opinion and dropped the remaining Geonosians. "We don't take prisoners," uttered Sharp venomously. Jet's body language showed that he agreed. Captain Rex was upset as well, but he wasn't as angry as the three of them. There was some benefits to being the prime clone, when one was supposed to lead a clone army.

Satisfied that the area was clear, he got on the COM to Nyles, "We're clear, send in our armored support."

The line was awash with static for a moment before it cleared up, "Yes 'Alor. Orar 1-1, Karyatesa 1-1 and their armored brigades are dropping in."

He turned toward Sharp, "Take 20, rations and water mandatory for everyone."

"Sir, and after that?"

"We await armored support and help Skywalker reduced that shabla factory to dust."

"Sir."

Jango took a breath and dropped himself on a nearby rock. He was thinking of Boba back on Kamino, even Ordo was out here fighting. What was he thinking? He had nearly lost his father on this outer rim dust ball, was he worrying about losing his father again? No, Boba was stronger than that, better than that. But he was still just a boy, and a large part of Jango regretted that he couldn't have a normal childhood, even by Mandalorian standards.

Skywalker's voice interrupted his thoughts, "What happened Jango, getting tired?"

"I may not be getting any younger, but that doesn't mean I'm an old man yet." He sighed, "Men like me don't get to live to a nice old age Skywalker." Skywalker nodded solemnly, looking at the ground, deep in thought. Jango stood up and slapped his back, "Come on, I was just messing with your head Jetii. I plan to retire." What he didn't tell Skywalker was that a large part of him didn't believe that. But he figured the Jedi knew that, anyway.

He was interrupted by the sound of his COM unit going off, "'Alor, we've got a problem. You have a Separatist counter attack coming in from the south. Gata'dr – 3 and Gata'dr – 4 are moving to attack."

Jango got on the COM to Mundi, "General Mundi, we have a Separatist counter attack coming in from the south."

"Of course, General Fett. Commander Jet and I are on the way," replied the Jedi, calm.

Skywalker turned, "Where's Master Mundi going?"

"Separatist counterattack coming in from the south, he's going to take care of it."

"Guess it's just us then." Jango could hear the sound of approaching gunships. The ones in the lead were MAAT/c carriers, but the ones behind them were older model LAAT/I gunships with LAAT/c carriers bringing up the rear. The FOF tags said that they were from the 41st Elite, Commander Gree's men, under Jedi General Luminara Unduli.

"Unlikely, we have General Luminara Unduli coming in. That and Nyles' armored support."

"Good, we had better start our briefing then." Before long, both his and Skywalker's men were assembled. He had given enough speeches in the last few days, he was going to let the Jedi handle the briefing, only get involved if they said something _really _idiotic. He was standing next to Skywalker and Tano, while Tano attempted to brief the assembled troopers.

"This bridge is out first waypoint," she said, pointing out the lone bridge to the factory "focus your fire on the gun emplacements here and here. Because its only - "

Skywalker interrupted, "Because its only after we neutralize the guns, that we can push for the factory."

Tano gave her Master a very annoyed look, "I was…yes." Jango noticed troopers giving each other looks, and frankly he agreed, this was mildly humorous. "Expect stiff resistance from- "

Skywalker interrupted yet again, "And, don't forget to top of your energy cells and ration packs. Once we leave, there'll be no resupply."

It was Jango's turn to interrupt, "Actually, we'll have air support on station for this mission if we need it, in the firm of six Arrow gunboats. That means fresh ammo is a possibility, but don't be that guy that gets sent to the med bay because someone dropped an ammo crate on their head." The assembled troopers laughed. Jango knew that Shadow had rearmed back at the base, making sure that they could bring to bear the full fury of their firepower.

Skywalker nodded, "Good point General, anything else Ahsoka?"

"No, I think you've pretty much covered everything," she said, nodding her head very rapidly, "in _my _briefing."

"Very well, dismissed." The troops walked off, gather their equipment in preparation for the assault.

"You know Master, _my _briefings might go better if you didn't interrupt me," she said.

"I wasn't interrupting, I was trying to help you," he shot back, almost defensively.

"Which I appreciate, if you didn't _interrupt _me to do it. I just think that you don't trust me to give good briefings."

"Would it make you both feel better if I said that I didn't trust either of you?" Jango offered, smirking to himself behind his visor.

They both turned around at once, "No."

Skywalker turned around, "Besides, it's not about trust, it's about getting the job done right."

His Padawan caught on, "Ah! So you don't trust me to get the job done right! I knew it!"

"Snips, I never said - "

"No, no. It's okay, I understand."

"I'm the Padawan, you're the Master," she said, walking away.

Skywalker stared at his retreating Padawan "I don't suppose you have any advice."

"No."

"That's what I thought."

Skywalker went after his Padawan and Jango noticed Sharp standing behind him, "You did have advice, didn't you."

Jango smiled underneath his helmet, "Yes, but telling him not to offer to let her do the briefings or even let her give an incorrect briefing won't suit us today. We can't afford to make any mistakes."

"Damn straight, General."

"Come on, the other Jetii and her Padawan are here. If I'm right, they'll want to start the assault."

Jango and Sharp made their way to where the four Jedi stood. "I wish it was under more peaceful circumstances."

Jango wanted to make a snide remark, but both Jedi and Mandalorian had lost men that day, "Don't we all."

"General Fett, it's oddly comforting to have you with us on this planet again."

"I'll take that as a complement."

She gave him a expressionless look, "It was."

Soon they were all five of them looking at a map, "A frontal assault will be risky, our losses will be high."

"Not higher than they will if that factory comes online."

"Indeed, but there is an alternative," General Unduli hit a button on the display unit, showing what appeared to be a scan of the catacombs beneath. "Every Geonosian building has a series of catacombs beneath it that run deep underground."

Her Padawan picked up where she left off, "Some of the tunnels are close enough to this cliff wall, that you _could _cut a hole and make an entry point."

"Once inside, we could find the main reactor, plant the explosives and blow the factory inside out."

Skywalker nodded, "Well, it looks like a good way to get lost if you ask me."

Jango cleared his throat, "I agree with General Skywalker, we have six gunboats on station, we could level the factory."

"What if Poggle were to escape in the chaos, it's too risky."

"And sending a small team into the catacombs isn't?"

"I have instructed Bariss to memorize the labyrinth, all two hundred junctions."

Skywalker raised his eyebrows, "You always were thorough."

"It pays for one to be prepared," she said, giving a slight shrug. "Right Bariss?"

"Especially when other people's lives depend on your success."

"How do we keep the Geonosians occupied while someone else is setting the bombs?"

"Simple, if we give the droids enough of a target to attack by hitting the front hard and fast, with nothing to make them uneasy, then they would attempt to attack us while a smaller team infiltrates the facility. I don't think our Seppy friends would be too worried about a Bha'lir tank brigade or a squad of Mandalorian Assault Walkers backed up by AT-TE Mk I and Mk II walkers."

Skywalker nodded, "The lack of air support would put them at ease."

"Precisely, that task will be carried out by the three of us. While the destruction of the factory falls to the Padawans."

"Well, I hear what you say about being prepared, and that's why I brought some vode of mine along."

Two Clone Assassins decloaked behind him "Glaive, reporting for duty General!"

"Scythe, reporting as ordered sir!"

General Unduli turned toward them, "Clone Assassins, I was wondering what that faint presence in the force was."

"We wouldn't be very good at our job if we could be sensed a mile away."

"Much of the Jedi order isn't very sure what your job is, Lieutenant."

"Elimination of force users in service of the Separatists." Jango knew that the Jedi didn't know that they were in case he had to get rid of them too.

Jango cleared his throat, "Glaive, Scythe, you will both accompany Commander Tano and Offee into the catacombs."

"Now hold on, whose idea was this."

"Don't look at me," he said, not wanting to get involved. He had Glaive and Scythe on station to scout the area up ahead, and that they had done very well.

"I can do this Master, if been on more difficult assignments." **(who just said dis?)**

"Yes but unlike Bariss, you're not prepared." **(who just said dis?)**

Glaive cut in, "Generals, if I may. Scythe and I will defend your Padawans with our lives. We'll make sure the mission is completed."

"Here, we'll use these chronometers to track your progress. Synchronize on my mark. Three, two, one, mark." Jango looked at Glaive and Scythe who shrugged, it was beyond him why Jedi wouldn't just get wrist COM suites.

**Lieutenant Glaive**

Glaive extended his hand to Ahsoka, "Glaive." She tentatively took his hand and shook it.

"Ahsoka Tano."

"Nice to meet you Ahsoka, this your first stealth op?" he asked her as they ran.

"Somewhat."

Bariss, "It's mine too, don't worry."

"Oh Scythe, we have a couple first timers."

Scythe chuckled, "Just remember to take deep breaths, slows your heart rate, makes you harder to find." Ahsoka took a breath, but delayed in letting it go "And then you let it go Commander." She let it go in an exaggerated fashion.

"I know, I know, it's just…"

"Don't worry about it, the bugs are pretty hard to fool. If they find us…well, it's a good thing Glaive and I are carrying some extra firepower."

**General Jango Fett**

"We march our troops up the middle, parade style."

Jango shook his head, "Are you planning mass sacrifice, or a distraction?"

"Alright then, what's your plan then General Fett?" asked Skywalker.

"Tanks, Walkers and Artillery hit their base. The Separatists won't take kindly to that, they'll send out droids. That's when we reveal ourselves and open fire. Knowing the Separatists, they'll maintain the illusion that they can still take our combined forces and will continue to throw droids at us. If by the time they start throwing whatever horrific weapon they have in that factory, our infiltration team has not completed their job, we'll be forced to call in the six gunboats to vaporize this facility."

Luminara nodded, "I have confidence in our Padawan's abilities, and your men's dedication. However, what makes you think that the Separatists have a secret weapon hiding in there."

"Count on it Jedi, count on it. Come now, we must move."

Soon they had the Bha'lir tank brigade, the Mandalorian Assault Walkers, The AT-TEs of all Shadow Legion and the 41st Elite and a pair of AV-7 Antivehicle Cannons all in position to fire at the base. Just the sight alone would provoke any Commander to either retreat or send troops out to deal with it. He and the rest of Shadow, Torrent Company, the 41st and the two Jedi were waiting in cover a distance behind the tanks. The area between where they were and the tanks were offered no cover, but when they needed to advance, they would leap frog.

"This is Karyatesa 1-1, we're in position."

"Orar 1-1, we're ready to begin the assault."

A series of check ins came in through his helmet COM system, everyone was in position. He gave the signal "Fire." The Republic barrage knocked off purposefully non-essential parts of the factory. Just to give the droid commander something to think about. "Hold." The Republic vehicles stopped firing. There were a few moments where the sound of the wind sweeping across the battlefield was the only sound they heard, until the grating of the factory doors replaced that. The clanking of droids could be heard all the way back they were. "Hold," he said again, wanting them to bring more droids out before they completely obliterated the droids. As more droids marched out, Jango couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that it wasn't just them and the droids out here. "Fire, all units fire at will. Skywalker, Unduli, go now!" he signaled to Sharp the jet pack equipped ARC Troopers flew in above the battlefield taking point against the Separatist droids.

As soon as they landed Flare unleashed a hellish torrent on the droids ahead of him, their advance was completely halted by the anti-infantry weapons on the vehicles, Snipers and Heavy Gunners, while the rifle armed troopers picked off droids in the middle. All was going well, but Jango hoped that the infiltration team would move faster, he wasn't sure how long they would be able to pull this off.

The telltale whisper of the flutter of Geonosian wings reached the enhanced sensors of both his and the ARC troopers. "We've got bugs!" called out Deadeye, from his sniper post in the rear of the Republic Lines.

"Skywalker, Unduli, take the droids, Shadow will handle the bugs." Jango ran past a 41st Elite Trooper to raise his Rotary Cannon and shoot a trio of Geonosians out of the sky. Shadow moved from the front to the rear of the Republic lines dropping Geonosians as they did.

"Did somebody call the exterminator?" asked Rain, firing his dual wielded electromagnetic plasma carbines. "This is for the first time around!"

Jango dropped two Geonosians trying to fly off with a 41st Elite trooper, and turned to see another two Geonosians lose their heads by way of a well-placed VSR shot. The droids had made the biggest mistake, by attacking on both sides, they had inadvertently pushed the Republic forces into a circle. He smiled, they could hold their positions, for now.

**Lieutenant Glaive**

"Is this the place?" asked Ahsoka.

Glaive consulted his map while the Jedi Bariss placed her head on the cliff face. "This is the place."

"Hush," said Bariss. "I'm trying to concentrate." She pulled out her lightsaber and cut a hole.

"Nice work!" commended Ahsoka before attempting to enter. Bariss stopped her.

"I should go in first, I know the way." Glaive rolled his eyes, technically, so did he and Scythe.

"Be my guest," said Ahsoka, gesturing. Bariss stepped in, followed by Ahsoka and then him and Scythe.

"Night vision," he breathed into the private COM between him and Scythe. His monitor of Scythe's HUD informed him that he had activated Night Vision. Glaive ran a scan of the catacombs and his HUD warned him of two Geonosian soldiers ahead of them. Glaive stuck his hand out in front of Ahsoka while Scythe did the same for Bariss.

Even speaking would alert the two Geonosians. Glaive pulled his suppressed DX-22 SRS off of his back, while Scythe pulled off a suppressed DX-16. Glaive took aim and the unsaid countdown started ticking off in both their heads. As one, they both pulled the trigger, dropping both Geonosians, making as much sound as a whisper.

The next 'room' they walked into was full of Geonosians. "There has to be another way," whispered Ahsoka.

"This is the fastest way, we don't have time," informed Bariss.

"There's another passage if we backtrack, but like you said, we're running out of time."

He smirked underneath his helmet, "That leaves one option, left."

"Right," whispered Scythe. Before the Jedi could say anything, he ran along the left wall vibroblades extended, slaughtering every single one of the Geonosians sleeping there while Scythe did the same for the right. All of the bodies fell to the floor with muffled thud, dead. With wide eyes the young Mirialan Jedi led them onward.

"Left at the next junction," said Bariss. They took a left, like she said but it turned out to be a dead end.

"You do remember the way, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she said after a perceptible pause. Her eyes widened in realization, "It's not left, it's up!" With that the two Jedi jumped up the hole, the two assassins climbing up after them.

**General Jango Fett**

Jango and Shadow had wiped most of the Geonosians and instead left them to part of the 41st and Torrent Company. Jango saw Destroyer Droids moving in, the Jedi were struggling to hold their own against them. Without a word Rain aimed his launcher and fired, dropping both destroyers. A Mandalorian Assault Walker moved forward and continued firing, mowing down droids.

Suddenly the factory doors opened once more, "What the kriff is that?" asked Sharp.

"Looks like the Separatists have a new toy," remarked General Unduli.

"I don't care what it is, all armored divisions, open fire!" ordered Jango. The AV-7 artillery hit the tank formation only for shields to pulse in front of the tank. "Shab, they've got ray shields. Missiles and Mass Drivers only!" The troopers began firing PLEX-4A Missiles at the tanks, which bypassed the ray shield and dented the armor. They were joined by the Bha'lir tanks and the Mandalorian Assault Walkers. Missiles, Mass Driver rounds and MPACs bombarded the tanks, bypassing their shields and puncturing their armor. "Keep firing." The droids never got a chance to return fire, the heavy fire from the Republic had destroyed six tanks already.

"General, we've got the reactor!" came Glaive's voice in his helmet.

"Music to my ears! Get your shebs out of there!"

"Warthog, I need an airstrike at my position!"

"Yes General, Basilisk is on its way!"

"This is General Fett to all units, pull back, we have an airstrike inbound!" The Republic troops pulled back slowly. The shrill sound of repulsor engines filled the air as Jango could see a squadron of MAAT/Gs firing their anti-tank missiles and mass drivers at the Tanks. Eight more tanks were dropped by the Republic Gunships. The Artillery Cannons opened up on the damaged tanks, dropping two more of them. Just then the factory started exploding, a falling spire killed the last four tanks, and explosions mushroomed all around the base.

Amidst the explosions, Jango could see four figures flying into the air. As they neared Jango smiled, Glaive was carrying Skywalker's Padawan and Scythe Unduli's Padawan. They landed in front of them after dropping their 'passengers' and saluted. "Good job, the four of you."

"Thank you sir!" exclaimed Glaive and Scythe.

He decided to leave the Padawans with their Masters, "Come on you two." With that, they joined Sharp in a waiting gunship.

_**Some days later**_

**Agent Helena Deviss**

With the weapons factory destroyed, Republic Forces had launched a massive cleanup operation of the planet. With General Kenobi and Luminara working with Republic Intelligence field teams to find Poggle the Lesser. She had been busy, the last couple of days, coordinating between the Jedi and the Clone Intelligence teams on the ground, as well as Republic Air Control which was based on the _Guardian_.

At least the Republic had been winning, heavy air cover meant that Republic Losses were minimal. In truth it wasn't losses that she was worried about. Many of the troops were fighting harder and longer than was good for them, specifically Shadow Legion. They saw themselves on tight rotations, fighting in every engagement against the droids. He wondered how they did it, particularly Jango, Sharp and the rest of Squad 14. Every time Shadow deployed, they were there, leading them to victory.

The Separatists had almost been pushed back to the origin of their attacks, the northern hemisphere. But fighting the Separatists while Poggle was at large was not going to work, they needed to find Poggle, and quick. With Clone Scouts and Intelligence units scouring the area, this should be over quick. Jaing seemed to have a lead, and had offered to take a trooper named Buzz's place when his Jedi Commander wanted to scout in that direction. In Jaing's words, "I've scouted the location, I know part of the area. Besides Buzz isn't a scout, he won't appreciate the job."

**Lieutenant Jaing Skirata N-10**

"Where's Buzz?"

"Buzz got injured ma'am," lied Jaing, he wasn't sure how stubborn this Jedi was.

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"I forced him to go to the medic ma'am, he was more injured than he thought, would have done neither of you any good." Jaing wanted to say, 'Buzz couldn't agree more with me when I offered to take his place, he's not a kriffing scout.'

"Alright, I trust you know how to handle a speeder bike?"

"I'm from Clone Intelligence ma'am, I scouted the area, I could comb it by foot if I had to. And yes, I can handle a speeder bike."

With that the two of them sped out of the speeder bay. They rode on in relative silence until the General Unduli broke the silence again, "You're one of the Null ARCs aren't you?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Which one?"

"Jaing." Truly, he was surprised she asked.

"I assume that you're surprised I asked."

"I'm surprised that you had to ask about my surprise."

She smiled, "I've heard a lot about you Jaing."

"I must be doing a bad job then."

"From Master Zey, he says you're a very good tracker. I know Buzz isn't in the med bay, but I do know that you offered to take his place." His eyes widened, perhaps he had given this Jedi less credit than she was worth. "Honestly I was hoping that one of you would find something before I did, I must admit, it isn't my forte."

"Understandably. At least you had the Gett'se to understand it." If he kept her talking, he could figure out how prepared she was, and whether she really meant what she had said or she was just using him.

"Gett'se?" She didn't pretend to understand what it meant, that was a good sign.

"Courage."

"It takes courage to understand one's limitations."

Jaing smiled, "This ridge over here will provide a good vantage point." The two speeders stopped near the edge and they got off. Jaing lowered his macrobinoculars "There, you see that crate?"

"Where, I don't…Ah, I see it. Approximately 150 klicks southeast of here."

With that, the two of the flew their speeders out to the crate. Jaing pulled his Verpine Shatter Rifle off of his back and scanned both the crate and the immediate area. General Unduli got on the COM to Generals Fett, Mundi and Kenobi "It appears to be a munitions container of sorts."

"It could just be debris," replied Mundi.

"I don't think so, there was not battle in this area."

"11 mark 72," he said looking at the crate. "Which makes no sense, that would put him heading to the Progate Temple, I personally led a squad to clear the droids out of there. Besides, that vector would expose him to our sensors."

A fourth voice joined in, "Master Luminara, I'm tracking a sandstorm headed your way."

"No matter, Poggle is out here and I intend to find him before he can get off world."

He cut in, "When that sandstorm hits, no one is going anywhere."

"The trooper has a point," said General Mundi. "You might get lost in that storm."

General Fett nodded, "And when that happens, we would have to find you, _Jaing_ and Poggle." He emphasized his name to tell General Mundi that it was not okay to call him trooper, something he appreciated, not that he cared about the Jedi's opinion of him.

"I feel it is a risk worth taking." Jaing sighed and stepped onto his speeder bike. The storm was now in full force, and were playing hell with his scanners. But he knew that they would reach the temple soon. They brought their speeders to a halt. Getting off Jaing shut off the engine and pulled off his VSR, and then cloaked. "Jaing, are you still here?"

"I'm with you General, he said over COM, just vanishing in case we're being watched."

She got on the COM to the Generals but he was going to do some looking around. His scanners seemed to be going crazy, showing multiple contacts below him, but that wasn't possible…shab. He saw Geonosians shambling out of the hole in the center of the temple. Jaing jetted up onto a statue and fired, a single round going right through the chest. The creature, whatever it was, kept moving. Jaing held fire and instead jumped in, extending his vibroblades and removing the heads of two of the creatures. "Jaing!" called out General Unduli.

"I've got your back General!" He was grabbed from behind, and stabbed the head of the creature grabbing him. What a rookie mistake, he hadn't checked his surroundings, and he got jumped. When he turned around, the general was nowhere to be seen. What the hell had just happened. Jaing had seen his fair share of strange things, but this like nothing he had ever seen before. He got on the COM to General Fett, "General Fett, we've got a problem."

"Calm down Ja'ika, what's going on."

"Sir, its Geonosians, except I put a round from my VSR through its chest and it kept going. They've got General Unduli, disappeared into the lower catacombs."

"Hold on Jaing, we're on our way."

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"Are you sure you can fly in a storm like this?" he asked Talon.

"Relax, I've got this."

"Almost makes me wish for Flare's flying."

"The new gyro stabilizers make flying through his storm as easy as hitting the broadside of a barn."

Sharp sighed, "You hear what Jaing said?"

Flare nodded, "Yeah, good thing we brought some plasma carbines with incendiary cells, and FA-3 Flechette Launchers."

Rain shrugged, "I'm just using canister shells. But I still brought some explosives, in case we need to collapse the catacombs."

Deadeye pointed to the thermal detonators on his bandolier, "Everyone is carrying detonators you di'kut."

Rain waved him off "You're just sour you can't use your VSR. Besides, not everyone is carrying detpacks."

"Are those B-12 Baradium detpacks? You crazy utreekov, you'll kill us all!" asked Data, shocked.

Sharp wished he could turn of his COM and audio sensors sometimes. Suddenly the gunship dipped and tilted to one side. "Talon, what the kriff are you doing?"

"Just a bit of wind, hold on."

Flare cut in "What happened to the gyro - "

"I know what I said! Hold onto something!" called out Talon.

Looking through the viewport Sharp had to squint to see what was ahead of them, "Watch out for that," what was that up ahead, was that a…"cliff!" Sharp felt the forces pulling back on him as the gunship ascended into the air.

"Phew, that was close. Temple in sight, beginning my descent."

Sharp shook the dizziness from his head, "I'm almost beginning to think that it was a better idea to let Flare fly." Sharp pulled his DX-16 off of his back and picked up one of the PX-15S Plasma Carbines and loaded an incendiary cell into it. The incendiary cell was designed to be used to clear biological threats like, especially virulent ones. He grabbed several cells before taking an FA-3 Flechette Launcher and several magazines for that weapon.

The gunship set down and the doors opened up with a hiss to an eerily desolate temple, only the wind there to greet them, until Jaing walked out of the entrance toward them. "I was expecting some more Jetiise."

Sharp chucked him a plasma carbine, "They're on their way, we brought some new toys, should help with whatever's in there."

Jaing looked the weapon over, "I hope you brought incendiary cells for this thing." He dropped his Verpine in the gunship, and then picked up some incendiary shells for the weapon as well as an FA-3. Jaing sighted down both weapons once, to get a feel for them.

Sharp's Holocom came to life, displaying an image of Jango and Admiral Nyles "Sharp, once you're in there, I want you to broadcast what you see. I don't like the sound of whatever's down there," said Nyles.

"Sir, I know what you're thinking, and I recommend that you set up a biohazard cordon. Whatever's going on here, we can't let it get off world. If Poggle wants to sell his soul to the devil then so be it, but our priority would be to get General Unduli out of there, if possible. Like General Fett said, we don't leave anyone behind, certainly not Jedi." A second gunship touched down behind theirs, "The Jedi are here, we'd best get going, Sharp out."

"Commander Sharp, how exactly did you get here faster than us?"

"Newer model gunship," Sharp lied. "Better engines." He wasn't going to tell him that they had left when the storm was not completely out.

Skywalker nodded, "What's with a new guns."

"Actually, Generals, I recommend we hand these out."

Jaing took a step forward toward the Jedi, "I fire my VSR, went right through it. Blasters aren't going to do much good."

Skywalker and Kenobi exchanged looks. "Very well," said Kenobi, nodding.

Cody walked toward the crate, "Come on men." He turned toward Sharp, "Thanks Sharp."

Sharp nodded, "No problem ner vod." Once everyone had exchanged their weapons, Sharp directed Talon to take off and they entered the temple together.

"Spread out, look around, men," said Skywalker. Sharp directed his men to do the same.

Jaing held up the lightsaber, "There's no need for that. They took the General down there. Here's her lightsaber." Kenobi took the lightsaber from Jaing and looked over to where he gestured.

"Well, that looks ominous," he said.

"I don't think we have another choice," said Skywalker.

"Quite right, come on men." Jaing, Cody, Sharp and their men followed the Jedi. They kept their weapons at the ready, scanning the hallways for any signs of trouble.

"This leads to a dead-end," said Cody after consulting his scanner, "this leads to the inside."

"I'll go first," said Kenobi. Sharp, Jaing and the rest of the ARCs found the tunnel a tighter fit that Cody and his troopers, owing to the bulkier nature of their armor.

"This place gives me the creeps," said Rain after he looked into one of the alcoves cut into the walls.

Flare shuddered, "I hate to agree with Rain, but I agree."

"There's a possibility, that when we find the General, she may not be…herself."

Sharp secretly believed it to be a possibility as well, but he couldn't show that outwardly "You've been watching too many vids, cut the chatter and stay focused."

Suddenly, Kenobi's Holocom came to life. "Master Kenobi, if you're following me you must leave this place, just get out! I repeat, fall back!" The image was cut off. It was Sharp's turn to shudder. Shab, what the kriff was that.

"I don't like the sound of that," admitted Cody out loud.

"She must be close by, come on!" They followed the two Jedi until they were met with the sight of shambling Geonosians. "I don't like the looks of this."

"Open fire!" ordered Sharp. All the troopers opened fire with a combination of incendiary plasma rounds and metal shards. The incendiary rounds completely eviscerated the creature's heads while the shards fired by the FA-3 and the canister shells of Rain's launcher tore their bodies to shreds, tearing flesh into strings. One of them tried to grab one of Cody's men, but he shot its head clean off. "Generals, we can't hold this position forever!"

"Back everyone, back! Shoot the tunnel supports, it's the only way." As they backed up, Flare fired at the roof with his shards that it fired could go through ten centimeters of durasteel, it made short work of the tunnel supports. They dived back through the tunnel they came.

Skywalker took a breath, "What were those things?"

"I've heard rumors of a Geonosian hive mind, so powerful, so strong, that it can maintain its connection with its warriors even after they've died."

"If they're already dead…" started Sharp

"Then that explains why aiming for their vital organs was useless" concluded Jaing.

Then the thought hit him. "Sir, what about a parasite?"

"A parasite?" repeated Kenobi.

"Yes sir, it would explain the control over the dead warriors, or only why destroying their head puts them out of action."

"Hmmm, that is a reasonable theory Commander. However, we need to help General Unduli. Call for reinforcements."

"Unfortunately General, I've been trying to get in touch with General Fett, but my COM unit is out of range. We're too far underground. If we backtrack and await reinforcements, we might be too late. However, the Admiral is cordoning the area off as a potential biohazard threat. We have specialized teams setting up a biological barricade and decontamination stations."

"That's reassuring, alright men, let's move." They continued moving, and Sharp didn't need to look at his team's bio monitors to know that they were quite concerned about the situation at hand.

"The air is warmer here, we must be getting close," concluded Kenobi.

"Forget the heat, it smells down here," said Skywalker.

"Keep your voice down."

"I'm just saying, this planet is rotten from the inside out."

"On that you'll get no argument from me."

"Sir. Look. At. That" he said, staring at the immense Geonosian ahead of them with partial terror.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Skywalker. Sharp had a terrible feeling about this. "Any sign of Luminara?" Jaing, Sharp and the rest of Squad 14 activated their night vision, as did Cody.

"I see her, she's suspended in the throne room" he said. He could see her as well.

"What about Poggle?"

"He's…speaking with the queen."

"You take the soldiers," said Skywalker to Kenobi. "I'll take the queen."

"Must you always rush into things?"

"Oh no, you don't actually want to talk to it, do you?"

"General why don't we open fire and drop the queen, she might lose control of the guards, and then we can save the General" he suggested.

"But if the tunnel is collapsed in the crossfire, it may prove to be a problem. No, we need to secure Luminara first. Anakin, don't you wonder why they took Luminara captive? Why not just kill her?"

"She's leverage, she's a hostage."

"Leverage for what? No. There's something else going on here and these zombies are connected to it."

"Fine, we'll try it your way."

"So glad you agree."

"Cody, Sharp, set your men around the perimeter. These creatures live in darkness, the light from your helmets or from a well-placed flash bang should render them stunned."

"That can be done General Kenobi, good luck."

"And to you Commanders."

Sharp watched with his night vision augmented Macrobinoculars as the Jedi walked toward the queen. As General Luminara saw them coming she had a look of fear, confusion and surprise on her face. The queen screeched, calming her warriors. With his enhanced sensors he could hear what they were saying, "How did you know they just wouldn't attack us."

"Because I make observations while you think with your lightsaber."

"Well that quick thinking of mine is usually needed when your observations get us into trouble." Sharp could agree with that, it was usually after all how it went with those two.

"Come now, the queen took Luminara hostage. She wanted a Jedi, now she has two more. I want to know what she's after."

"Well, when this doesn't go as planned, which it won't. I'll be ready." Of course it wasn't going to go as planned, which was why he and the rest of troops were going to be ready to unleash hell on these undead bug freaks. Also why he ordered Rain to set charges.

"That is _so _reassuring."

"I thought I told you _not_ to follow me Master Kenobi," said General Luminara.

"Yes, well I took a lesson from Anakin and decided _not_ to follow orders." Fair points all around.

"Hey!" complained Skywalker. Was this really a time for this? No. Did they care? Probably not.

"You, you, you! Are the creatures that attacked Geonosis!" screeched the queen. "Why have you come before me?!" she continued in the same screechy broken basic.

And then the Negotiator got to work, "Your Majesty, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Obi-Wan Kenobi and this is Anakin Skywalker. It is our sad duty to inform you that your rule is, at an end."

"You, not dictate to me Jedi." Fair enough, he wouldn't take being ordered around by Jedi if he wasn't in the GAR. "My Empire is forever." Maybe this queen had troubles with illusions of grandeur. Infinite Empire? The last guys that thought they had that down, their Empire shattered into pieces pretty quick.

"I'm afraid it does not appear that way, your grace. You shall release the Jedi Luminara and submit to Republic Law." Did that work all the time Kenobi? He would have to ask him later. The queen let out a long and loud screech in response to this.

"I, no submit." The Geonosian guards immediately turned toward the two Jedi. Skywalker readied his lightsaber.

Kenobi stopped him, "No, patience Anakin, wait." The Geonosians took their Lightsabers from them. Well, this was going splendid. "Majesty, destroying us shall only make the Republic's judgment of you harsher." He could say that again.

"No Jedi, no! I no destroy you. I devour you. I control you. I have but one Jedi before young Poggle, but now, I have three. Now watch, as my child enters your Jedi friend. And once inside, her mind, becomes my mind. Her thoughts, my thoughts." Shab, so he was right, it was a parasite of sorts. A worm by the looks of it. It was a good thing that he had asked the Admiral to set up the quarantine, he would have to make sure that every personnel bound anywhere is checked.

"It's the sort of mind control hive mind. She thinks she can possess us."

"Great! Find out about everything you wanted to know yet?"

"No wait, I want to see how it works." Maybe that isn't the greatest idea.

"I don't think Luminara wants to see how it works." No, he didn't either.

"No, I don't," confirmed General Unduli.

"I'm curious the more we know the better." True, but not this way.

"I disagree," said General Unduli a little more frantic as Poggle ran up to her.

"So do I."

"Come now, the nose or the ear, which do you think it will enter?"

Skywalker sighed, "I think the nose."

"Uh, I hope this is part of the plan."

"Isn't it always? Cody, Sharp now!" They moved into action, Deadeye made a perfect shot, that glanced past General Unduli's head and killed the worm. He threw flash bang right in front of the queen, blinding several warriors. He opened fire, dropping more guards. He turned and saw that Skywalker has secured Poggle and General Unduli. They kept firing and they even unleashed hell on the queen who was torn to pieces like her warriors before what was left of them was set on fire by the incendiary rounds.

Seeing that the Jedi were clear he got on the COM to Rain, "Rain, now!"

"Music to my ears Commander!"

Rain hit the charges, bringing down the roof as they ran for the exit. With rock falling all over they finally made it out the exit, with the temple collapsing behind them. "Hold it right there!" called two Troopers in fully sealed bio suits. "Oh, I'm sorry sirs, please come with us." Sharp shook his head, at least it was all over.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"And what about the Geonosian parasite?" asked Jango.

"Destroyed, I had the entire site cordoned and bombarded from orbit after the survivors were checked. Nothing remains of it."

"Good. Well done, Nyles," said Jango as he stepped off the bridge. Nyles took a breath, they had won, the battle of Geonosis was over.

**These two episodes made no sense in so many places. Like if the tanks were ray shielded, then why didn't the AT-TE's mass driver penetrate? Also, once the shield was removed, why didn't they just bomb the factory from orbit? Oh well, till next time…**


	15. Chapter 15 - Battle of Saleucami

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 15 – Battle of Saleucami

**Agent Helena Deviss**

It was rare when the Jedi summoned outsiders to their temple on an emergency, but when they summoned three, it was a day to remember indeed. Especially when three of those four outsiders were Mandalorians. She knew that the situation was dire, they were contacted on the Jedi emergency frequency. After all, the celebrations for the Battle of Geonosis were over a couple days ago. She never thought she'd see that many drunk Jed. Were Jedi even allowed to get drunk? Could they even? Well if they weren't drunk then they were definitely very happy. And it was probably one of the few times she (actually, anyone really, according to Nyles) had seen Jango truly happy. Of course, she was enjoying watching from the sidelines until Nyles had dragged her onto the dance floor at the Officer's Mess. The only others there were Ordo and Besany, Darman and Etain even enjoyed a dance once the Jedi were all gone and it was just very drunk Mandalorians and a few Republic Officers who were too drunk to care.

Now they (Helena, Jango and Nyles, that is) were half jogging through the halls of the Jedi temple to get the holoprojector that the message was being projected on. It was a good thing that they were in the adjacent building, otherwise they might not have made it on time.

They made it into the room hearing the screams of Jedi Master Eeth Koth over the Holocom. Helena could see him being shocked by a Magna Guard's electrostaff. Helena wasn't sure if it was the lighting or the run on a stomach full of booze, but Jango looked a little green.

"But death will not come easily for Master Koth," said General Grievous over the Holocom. "I will make him suffer endlessly, because I know it is more painful for you all." The line was cut after Grievous gave a short, maniacal laugh.

"How long can he last?" breathed Kenobi.

"How long? Taking into account that they don't want information, the output of a shock staff and the fact that he's a Zabrak, quite a while," Helena said.

Kenobi sighed and shut his eyes. "It's time somebody finally put an end to that monster," said Skywalker, seething with anger.

"On that, agreed we are," said Grand Master Yoda. "How to find him, the question remains."

"After engaging Grievous, we lost contact with Master Koth. He could be anywhere."

"Not if we take into account the range of a _Recusant-class_ Destroyer and its escorting _Munificent-class_ Frigates, we might be able to narrow down which star system he's in," said Nyles.

"Commander Wolffe has found a message in the Holotransmission. Play back the message." The transmission re-winded. Looking at Master Koth's left hand, she could see him signing a message.

"Look, hand signals!" proclaimed Skywalker.

"I'll admit my skills are rusty but... Saleucami system, sector J-19. 080529," deciphered Kenobi.

"Saleucami? But intelligence reported Grievous had no ships near that sector."

Helena was now annoyed, blame intelligence, that was everyone's standard response. "Master Jedi, I want to remind you that because of the way Hyperdrives work, Grievous is free to enter an undefended system without us knowing."

Master Yoda let out a small grumble, "Correct, the agent is."

"I shall go," said Kenobi.

"So will I," said Skywalker, taking a small step forward.

"If Grievous wants a Naval Battle, he's got it. Defender is itching to pay back Grievous for the loss of their brothers on the _Steadfast_."

"If I know you Ob'ika you have some elaborate plan to capture Grievous as well as free Master Koth," said Jango, speaking for the first time since they got to the temple.

"Well…" started Kenobi.

"Good, because you never send a Jedi to kill a monster. That's what you call a Mandalorian for."

"And why is that?"

"So that you don't stoop to their level to survive... Not that I'm saying you're better than me, Jedi. It's just that Grievous won't play by your rules. Like he said, he wants to wipe you out."

"Indeed. In that case, it's reassuring that you're by my side."

"Settled then, this is. May the force be with you," concluded Yoda.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"All right, Gata'dr -1 is ready for the both of you," Nyles was in full-on command mode, sweeping onto the bridge, flanked by Helena and Jango on one side and Kenobi, Skywalker and Gallia on the other. "Try to bring back both my Frigate and its crew intact. Once we exit hyperspace, I'll deploy all four Frigates and six gunboats. It'll be up to you to make sure you get Grievous on board. Commander Sharp and Squad 14 will join you on board for additional support. Talon will ferry Agent Deviss, General Skywalker, General Gallia, Captain Rex, Lieutenant Alpha and their men."

"Sounds like a good plan," said Skywalker, nodding.

"Good, because it's all I've got," Nyles said with a rueful grin, which Skywalker returned.

"Are you sure you can keep Grievous' fleet busy Admiral?" asked Gallia.

"A dreadnought, two battleships, three frigates and six gunboats is enough to keep a fleet five times that size busy."

Jango nodded, "Good, then let's get busy. Come on Ob'ika." With that Jango and Obi-Wan disappeared in the direction of the Frigate deployment bays.

Skywalker and Gallia walked off toward the hangar but he stopped Helena on her way out, "Remind me why you're going with the Jedi to Grievous' ship."

"Nyles, the only person here who knows how to treat and adjust for torture wounds here is me."

"Sharp can- " he started.

"Sharp needs to back Jango and Kenobi up. Besides, I did learn from the best," she said, giving him a confident smile.

"Sometimes I worry about you," he said, giving her a look.

"Yeah? Well don't, I can take care of myself," she said as she made for the hangar bay as well.

Nyles sighed, knowing that he had made a mistake and turned his attention back to the bridge. Blade, standing by politely until then, turned to him, "You know sir, sometimes you do treat her like she's not a terrifying spy."

He smiled, knowing it to be the truth. "It's just so hard to believe, that sometimes I do it because I can't see the truth staring me in the face."

"She'll get over it sir, she just needs to vent on some droids."

"Damn, sometimes I wonder if she was always like this."

Sharp walked onto the bridge, "No, not always. She usually softens up for some people, mostly just you. But if you go and act like a di'kut, you're lucky all she did was walk away."

"Aren't you supposed to be on that Frigate with 'Alor and Kenobi?"

"I was heading there, and then I ran into Agent Deviss in the hallway. I figured I would come up here and see what happened. Other than that, all quiet on the western quadrant?"

"Very funny, get your shebs down to the Frigate and let me worry about the fleet" he said, understanding Sharp's reference to the maneuver Mirialan smuggler Hylo Visz used to breach the Mandalorian Blockade during the Jedi/Sith Civil War.

Blade turned to him, "We're ready to jump to Hyperspace, Admiral."

"Do it."

**On the bridge of General Greivous' modified Recusant Destroyer**

"Uh sir, there are three ships coming out of Hyperspace."

"Are they Republic or Separatist?"

"Republic. Two Battleship class and one Dreadnought class. They're deploying four Frigate class and six gunboat class ships."

"The Mandalorians and the Jedi. Your friends have come to rescue you just as I knew they would."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

Nyles looked at the looming Separatist fleet in front of him, a large part of him wanted to take out that scum Grievous. However, Master Koth was far too high a price to pay for that scum. However, it wasn't his job to destroy Grievous' fleet outright, he just had to keep them busy long enough for Anakin to rescue Master Koth and for Kenobi and Jango to capture that hut'uun Grievous. "All Frigates, clear to launch. Blade, tell _Gra'tua _and _Liberty _to launch their gunboats."

"Yes sir!" said Blade as he got about carrying out his orders.

The Holocom buzzed and he answered it, displaying Jango Fett and Obi-Wan from the chest up. "The Captain tells me we're ready to leave. Remember Admiral, don't destroy his fleet, just give them a run for their credits."

"Can be done, worst comes to worse, I will disable Grievous' ship and send several boarding parties to assist whichever of you may need it."

"Understood, good luck Admiral."

"Yes, Admiral, may the Force be with you."

"And good luck to the both of you, too."

**General Jango Fett**

Jango checked his weapons, dual disruptor pistols, as well as his flamethrower and rocket launcher. He was extremely glad that he'd finally given in to the combined nagging of Kal Skirata and his son (whose knowledge of beskar he blamed Skirata for) and switched to good old fashioned Mandalorian beskar'gam instead of his old durasteel suit. He had been wearing that suit for some time, but was glad he'd switched over, given he'd be facing a lightsaber wielding opponent. He was glad that Sharp and Squad 14 were equipped with beskar plated armor as well. It was a pity that Commander Cody and his men were not. But he would ensure that Greivous stayed off them.

"Ready Jango?" asked Obi-Wan, standing next to the Holocom.

"It's time to make that hut'uun pay."

Kenobi nodded and activated the Holocom to Grievous, waiting until Grievous was listening. Before long, they were transmitting, "General, I knew one day I'd catch up to you."

"Kenobi, what a surprise. I assume you are here to, 'bring me to justice?'" asked Grievous.

"You know me too well," lied Kenobi.

"Indeed I do!"

Jango turned to the ship's Captain and nodded. The Captain turned toward his crew, "All right boys, take us in, fire a few shots at his bridge just to scare him." He then got on the Holocom, "This is Gata'dr -1 to 2, 3 and 4. Watch our backs and let's make this look nice and natural. Remember Grievous can't know it's a trap."

Jango watched as the Phalanx Assault Ship moved in toward Grievous' ship, firing its main disruptor cannons at the bridge. Suddenly the ship shook. "They've taken the bait!" called the Captain.

Jango slipped his helmet on, "Good. Come, let's go and join Sharp and Cody by the airlock."

**Agent Helena Deviss**

"Talon, distraction is a go, you are clear to launch!" came the voice of Nyle's second in command over the gunship's intercom.

"Roger that, activating camouflage." There was a slight hum as the atmospheric containment shield activated and the light bending panels on the outside of the gunship activated, rendering the ship invisible to the naked eye. The jammers made it almost impossible to detect as well. Helena looked around the cabin, with her was General Skywalker, Gallia, Captain Rex, Lieutenant Alpha, Sergeant Denal and other troopers from Torrent Company. Also there was Captain Razor and a squad of clone Special Operations Troopers. In short, she was in a gunship with some of the GAR's most elite soldiers, yet the pre-mission jitters never went away.

"I still think that we should have taken a shuttle," said Anakin.

"I'm _glad _we didn't have to trust your flying again," returned Alpha.

"Another story?" asked Rex.

"I already told you about Ohma-D'un, didn't I Rex?"

"Oh right, never mind."

Anakin gave them all looks.

"Nearing the ship General, they haven't detected us…yet."

Skywalker raised his eyebrows, "Great, well that's good news."

"Alright, retracting the rear turret and prepping the airlock," said Talon, over the mechanical sound of the rear turret retracting. She watched as an airlock appeared in the rear ramp as a panel drew back to show it. There was a thud, as the two ships docked.

"Let's not outstay our welcome," said Skywalker as he stepped through the airlock first. "Captain Razor, are your men ready?"

"Sir, we will hold this position until you return" said Razor as his men unloaded two turrets.

Skywalker nodded, "Alright. Captain Rex, you're with us."

"Skywalker, Master Koth is located on the bridge" said General Gallia. With that, she drew her two disruptors and with Captain Rex they headed toward the ship's bridge.

They kept running, "How are we doing?" asked Skywalker.

"We are close," answered General Gallia.

They saw a trio of droids which the two Jedi immediately put down.

**General Jango Fett**

"Remember, we need to keep Grievous on this ship until General Skywalker is clear," said Obi-Wan. Both Sharp and Cody nodded. Cody's men were taking up position toward the rear of the hall, with Squad 14 taking the middle. Squad 14 could take a lot more fire, and deal a lot more damage, given that they were ARC troopers.

The door was cut open and flung at them. Jango moved out of the way and turned his attention back to the hole in their airlock. First came a trio of Commando Droids. The first received a VSR round through its head, the latter two were put down by Cody and Sharp, respectively. Then came the Magna guards... Jango motioned for the troopers to move off and await further orders. Grievous stepped through the remains of the airlock, "Kenobi. And if it isn't the famous Mandalorian Jango Fett. Now that you work for these Jedi dogs... I will take pleasure in killing you, too."

Obi-Wan braced, while he aimed his disruptors in Grievous direction. "I don't think I could say the same for you, hut'uun," Jango snarled Grievous advanced and Jango took the opportunity to blast his two Magna Guards to bits.

"Evening the playing field, Mandalorian?" asked Grievous in his raspy voice.

"No, I just removed your only chance at coming out of this alive" he said. Grievous advanced on the two of them. Jango opened fire on him, but he deflected the bolts, with almost no difficult.

"So Kenobi, is everything going according to plan?" he taunted.

"That depends on you, General," said Kenobi, getting into his stance.

"Do you think Skywalker was rescued Master Koth yet?"

Jango fired more bolts at him while Kenobi dived at him. He extended his other arms, armed with two more lightsabers. "Maybe you should worry about whether we've killed you yet."

**Agent Helena Deviss**

Helena could see the two Jedi run onto the bridge now, all was going according to plan. Those two would spring whatever trap the droids had in store for them and then they would come in and help them wipe it off this plane of existence. She could see Master Koth from here, he seemed in decent shape. In all honesty, this operation was going well.

"Surprise!" said Skywalker, smirking, as he and General Gallia stepped onto the bridge.

The droid turned, "Not exactly." Helena watched Commando droids surround the Jedi. She signaled Captain Rex and his men to fire, and then joined in herself. Captain Rex downed the two Commando Droids closest to the door, with Alpha getting the two furthest from the Jedi, she dropped two vibrosword wielding Commando Droids on their left, Sergeant Denal got the two on the right and the remaining droids were wiped by the squad's other two members.

Skywalker sliced the command droid in two while she and the rest of the troopers moved in. "Nice timing, Rex," complemented Skywalker.

"Thank you, sir," came Rex's reply.

Skywalker slashed the restraining device, causing Master Koth to drop into General Gallia's hands. Helena searched for a pulse, he was weak, but he would live. "He's going to live, but we need to get out of here."

As General Gallia picked him up, Master Koth turned to address Skywalker. "I see you got my message. Where's Grievous?"

"He's on Obi Wan's ship" said Skywalker

"He's been captured?" asked Master Koth.

"If we can cut off his escape, there's a good chance of that."

As they were carrying Master Koth back to the ship, an incoming message made them all stop "Anakin, I hope you've rescued Master Koth. Because Greivous is headed back to his ship!"

Koth turned toward the two Jedi, "You both go, I'll make it back. I'll be fine."

"We'll have to disagree on that one, Master Gallia? You go ahead, I'll bring Master Koth to the gunship."

Helena cleared her throat, "No, let's move. Captain, have two of your men carry Master Koth." She said walking to the front of the group.

"Where are you going?"

"Going? I'm going nowhere, I'm taking point."

With that they sprinted for the shuttle together.

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"Sharp, this is Jango. Greivous gave us the slip. He's headed your way!"

Cody turned to Sharp but they both turned around when they heard the sound of metallic feet clanging against the walls. "Fire!" All the troops opened fire, scorching the walls behind Greivous as he deflected their bolts, some of them glancing off of his armor. Sharp felt the heat of a lightsaber wash over him and his shield indicator drop as he was thrown into the wall. He saw the paint on his chest plate blackened and looked up to see Cody getting up with no lightsaber wound, one of Cody's men was dead but everyone else was fine. Squad 14 had lightsaber scorches on their armor.

Seeing Grievous in the distance, they knew there was only one way to slow him down. Cody fired the under barrel grappling hook at Grievous. Sharp followed suite, firing the grappling hook on his gauntlet launcher. The rest of his squad joined him, as did Cody's men. They all jumped on top of Grievous, kicking and punching the cyborg. No less than a second later they were all thrown right off, flying like rag dolls. As his head hit the bulkhead he cursed, looking around he saw that everyone was fine, but Grievous was gone.

Suddenly the entire ship shook, Sharp got on the COM to the Captain. "What the kriff is going on!"

"What do you think, we've taken a beating from that droid ship, the ship is tearing itself apart. We're evacuating, get yourselves out of there!"

Sharp saw Jango and Kenobi running past them and he struggled to his feet with the rest of the troopers and followed them. As the docking umbilical between the two ships began to deteriorate Greivous got further and further away from them, they only just managed to escape the doomed Frigate. "Commander, if you are receiving me, head to the hanger, we'll pick you up from there!"

"Razor?"

"Ah sir, it's good to hear your voice. Get your shebs to the hangar, sir, we don't have much time. Master Koth is injured pretty badly."

Together they sprinted to the hangar, wordlessly and jumped aboard the waiting gunship. "Grievous?" asked Skywalker as the gunship took off.

"He's escaped."

General Fett spoke next, "According to Nyles he's headed to the surface."

"Then we'll have to head there ourselves."

General Fett nodded "Yes. Sharp, get Shadow mobilized, we're going to find that scum before he can slip out of our grasp again." He turned toward Kenobi and Skywalker, "I expect to see the two of you down there as well, we can leave the remnants of his fleet to Nyles."

Soon the ship landed and Cody and him began to walk off to prepare their men when Master Koth addressed all of them, "You all took a great risk in rescuing me, even you General Fett." He said as a Medic took him from Captain Rex. "I would have gladly given my life to bring that monster to justice."

General Fett smiled, a rare occurrence indeed, "We don't leave anyone behind. Especially not our vode. Or even Jedi."

_**Later that day**_

**Lieutenant Alpha Alpha-17**

"Rex, you, Alpha, Denal, Jesse, Hardcase and Tup search for the remaining escape pods south of the crash. General Fett, Agent Deviss and Squad 14 have the North. Captain Razor and his men have the east, so Cody and I will take the west. Oh and Captain?"

"Yes sir?"

"If you see Grievous, be sure to contact us before you engage."

Alpha scoffed, "If this turns out to be anything like Jabiim, it'll be us saving your shebs." He got onto his speeder and joined Rex, Denal and the other troopers on patrol. Alpha heard a blaster shot, the next thing he saw was Rex flying off of his speeder bike. Alpha stopped his speeder near Rex's body, "Go find that sniper, now!"

He heard the sound of blaster fire and he got of his speeder, running over to where Rex lay in the dirt. He removed his helmet and checked for a pulse, there was one, so at least he was alive. Alpha got on the COM, "Kix, get your shebs back here." The four speeders came over. All four riders got off and ran over, Jesse gave Rex a thorough look over.

"How bad?" asked Jesse as he ran over.

"Pretty bad, I need to remove his armor to see the full _extent _of his injuries."

"Those snipers might have called for backup. Unless we want to start getting picked off one-by-one, we should find some cover." Some creatures nearby began moving closer toward them, "Wait a minute, those critters are domesticated. We're on farmland."

"So?" asked Kix.

"Where there's a farm," started Hardcase.

Alpha nodded, "There's a farmer" he said, catching on. "Let's move. Kix get the Captain. Denal and I will take the front, Hardcase and Jesse watch our back."

They continued toward a series of small farm buildings, and they stopped in the courtyard when a door was flung open and a Twi'lek holding a hunting blaster aimed it at Kix. Alpha knew that if the rest of them pointed weapons, there would be no chance that they could hold up here without causing more problems.

"We want no trouble here," she said, lowering her rifle.

"Easy with that weapon ma'am," said Jesse. "We're here as friends."

"State your business," she demanded, bringing the blaster up again.

Alpha spoke this time, "Our Captain was hit by a droid sniper, he's hurt we need a place to hole up and tend him overnight."

Suddenly two children appeared in the doorway, "Mommy, who's - " the child started.

Her mother cut her off, "Get back inside, both of you." She turned toward him again, "Look, there are some benches out back in the barn, it's the best I can do."

"That'll be fine ma'am," said Jesse. "Thank you."

They had Rex stripped down to the lower half of his bodysuit, and Kix was applying a bacta patch to his chest. "What?" he asked, waking up. "What happened?"

"Commando droids took a pot shot at you," said Hardcase.

"But you're made of sterner stuff ner vod, so we're slapping some bacta on you and hoping for the best," he finished.

"I can't feel my arm."

"There might be some nerve damage," informed Kix.

"That's great," he said with a short sigh. "Now patch me up and let's get on with it."

"Sir, you're in no condition to move."

"We're getting under way Kix," started Rex. "That's an order."

"Sir, as the team's medic I respectfully order you to - " started Kix.

The Twi'lek they saw earlier cleared her throat from the entrance to the barn, "If it's not enough" she said, holding a tray of some fruits.

"It's plenty," said Jesse "Thank you…"

"Sue." A children's toy floated in through the door. "I told you to stay in the house."

The child walked in to get the ball, "I couldn't help it mommy, it got away!" The child stopped for a moment to look at Rex. "You look like my daddy." **(OH MY GOD. SO FREAKIN' CUTE)**

"Shaeea, don't bother the soldier. Now get inside with your brother."

The child pouted, "Yes mom."

"My husband is away, delivering our first harvest," explained Sue, handing Jesse the tray. "Do you require anything else?"

"No," said Jesse, polite. "Thank you, Sue." The Twi'lek gave a slight nod and walked off.

Kix picked up Rex's blaster and placed it by Rex's side. Alpha found it interesting that despite the fact that both him and Denal were higher ranked than Jesse, he was doing all the talking. Mostly it was because Denal wasn't quite the people person, and he was content to let the Corporal assume a more direct role. After all, he was really only there because having an ARC on the squad was a good way to add firepower and combat expertise. That and he had worked with Skywalker before.

"Denal, take the rest of the squad and go on without us."

Denal nodded, but lingered for a moment. "What about you?"

"I've got to watch the Captain."

"I'll be fine," protested Rex.

"If the droids come here looking for you, you'll need someone other than some farmers to help you fight them off," he replied. Although, the child's comment was beginning to make him think about how she would think that they looked like her father.

"Get well soon, sir," said Denal as he and the others left the barn. "We'll be back after we've killed that shabuir Grievous."

Rex sighed, "Not going to tell me more stories are you?"

"What do I look like, your personal datapad?" he sighed, "You know, they don't even make us write up and incident report for this kind of thing."

"Funny, isn't it? I know General Fett keeps saying that the Republic is just another client, but the Republic still treats us like its own personal slave army. Not just us, but the Jedi too."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

"Get some rest," he said pulling his Westar M5 off of his back. "I'll take first watch." It was well into the night when Alpha heard the door opening. He heard the sound of a large object being picked up off of the wall and he flicked the safety on his blaster off. He slowly stepped off the pillar he was leaning on. He could see Rex slowly reaching for his blaster pistol as well, a good sign in all honesty.

He could see the figure now. Rex shot up in bed with his blaster but the figure knocked the weapon out of his hand. "Who are you?" he asked in the same Concord Dawn accented voice that most of the GAR shared. Shab, this man was a clone.

Alpha pointed his blaster at him, "The same could be asked of you."

"You're a clone," said Rex.

"So, I see the war's finally made its way out here," the man said. "And I guess I can expect a visit from some droids soon."

"What's your name, vod?" asked Rex.

"I'll admit, my Mando'a is a little bit rusty. But my name is Cut, Cut Lawquane," the clone introduced himself. Alpha lowered his M5. "And I'm just a simple farmer."

"You're a deserter," said Rex.

Alpha frowned, "You know Rex, we aren't actually as harsh on deserters as we used to be."

Cut nodded, "I know, General Fett did say we only had to fight and get paid if we wanted to. I just never actually filed in my papers."

Alpha sighed, "I can't say I understand, but I do respect that."

Suddenly, from the doorway he heard the voices of children. "Daddy, you're home! Look what I drew you!"

Cut laughed. "That's great Jek," he said, patting his son's head.

Sue walked in, "I see the three of you met," she said smiling, before that smile changed to a frown when she saw the blaster in his hands.

"Your husband just gave me a start ma'am... I'm a little jittery is all, haven't slept in a while."

Her smile returned, "As long as that's all it is."

"I was just making our guest, Captain Rex here a little more comfortable."

"His men brought him in here, injured. I told them he could stay, just for the night."

Alpha cut in, "Rex's is made of sterner stuff, so we should just be here one night."

"Of course he can, we never turn away those in need. Do we?"

"We always help, anyone we can," said Jek.

"You look hungry Rex," observed Cut.

"No, I'm fine, I'll stay here" replied Rex.

"Suit yourself, but I'm going to get something to eat. Those ration bars taste like osik," he said.

"You have to eat with us, please!" begged both children.

"They're never gonna stop until you say yes," said Cut.

"Alright," said Rex, slightly uneasy.

The children cheered.

Cut helped Rex off the bed and gave him a Mandalorian handshake. Soon they had got Rex back into the top half of his body suit with much complaining from the good Captain and they were in Cut's house, seated at his table. Alpha found that the chairs were hardly made for someone wearing armor. He was a little hesitant to remove his helmet, he might frighten people with the scars.

The second he did, Cut was the first to mention it. "So, am I the luckiest man in the galaxy that Alpha himself is eating dinner with me?" Stories of both his interrogation and survival of the above at the hands of Ventress had spread throughout the GAR. At least Cut knew about them.

"No, I'm not the best company to have at a dinner table."

"Speaking of dinner tables, I've seen the way the both you look at my family. Admit it, you've both thought about what life would be if you left the army."

"I have, several times. When I was offered by Ventress, when I was offered by some bounty hunters. I thought about it. I realized that even though we're all clones, we're all very different. Some of us are suited for things like this, while I see you and many other clones suited for family life, I don't see me there. Me? I may be a trained and bred killer, but I'm a born killer too. It's just what I'm good at, I could never hold a family. But better men like you and Rex, you guys deserve families."

Cut raised his eyebrows as he passed him a plate of sliced roast Nuna, "That's…profound, and brutally honest."

"I believed that the Republic was the only thing worth fighting for, and really it isn't. But fighting alongside our vode, even though we're fighting someone else's war, it means something to me. It's what our people used to do, and one day, this war will be over, we'll all return to Mandalore. And someday Cut, I'll have a family. But now, there's only one thing on my mind, and that's kicking the seppies shebs."

"I respect that, each to his own as I always say."

"What does that mean daddy?"

Cut patted his daughter's head, "It means you can do whatever you want."

Soon Rex and Cut were playing Dejarik, with Alpha watching. "Good move, very good move."

"So what made you do it?"

"You mean what made me leave the GAR? Soon after the battle of Geonosis, our gunship was shot down by three droid gunships. They hit us with everything they had. Pilot did everything he could. They told us the newer model gunships were a lot sturdier, guess that didn't matter when we were outnumbered so badly. Most of us were either dead, or badly injured. When they started working their way through the wounded, I ran. When I realized that they were all dead, realized what I had done, I knew I couldn't go back. I couldn't face my brothers after what I had done. I figured they were better off without me."

"I'm sorry. I can't pretend to understand what you're going through," said Rex.

"Daddy, we finished all our chores, can we go out and play?"

"Alright, but only for a few minutes, and keep the house in view."

"We will!" called out his children as they ran out the door.

"You have lovely kids."

"I was a coward once, but I'll fight to my last breath to protect them."

Suddenly they were interrupted by the sound of kids screeching. They made it to the door. "Shaeea? What's wrong?"

"Monsters, they hatched from the egg in the field."

"Egg in the field?" he asked.

Cut took a pair of macrobinoculars while he dropped his range finder and then he saw it. Shab, there were about 20 Commando droids headed for them from the fields. "That's not good. I count twenty."

"Cut, what's going on. Twenty what?"

"Commando droids," replied Cut.

"What are they doing?" asked Rex.

"Sue, get the kids upstairs!" ordered Cut. Cut shut the door and locked it.

"Do you have weapons?" he opened a large locker and inside was a suit of grey black armor, with durasteel plates and a red visor. There was only one Legion in the GAR with that kind of armor – Shadow Legion. Cut grabbed the PX-15 Plasma Rifle and handed a PX-17 Plasma Pistol to Rex.

"Does Commander Sharp know that one of his men that died on Ryloth isn't really dead?" he asked Cut. "He blames himself to what happened to your squad. Called it the most di'kutla decision he ever made!"

"We'll take about this later. Rex, you head upstairs while Alpha and I take care of them!"

"I can still fight."

"With respect, you have only one good arm, I need you to be the last line of defense for my family." Rex nodded and headed upstairs. Alpha checked his power cell, it was full. Good. He took the front while Cut took the back. The sounds of metallic footsteps on mud came louder and the back door was kicked in. Cut dropped all three droids with his blaster. He heard the wooden floorboards creaking underneath, and since none of them were moving, he looked at the hatch near the door. Cut moved to open the hatch but it burst open and Commando droids came out firing their blasters. Alpha opened fire, dropping three with a two round burst to the head each.

Cut dropped another two with his DC-15s. Alpha saw the last two droids and turned to fire when he received a swift kick to the chest, knocking him to the floor. A droid moved over, ready to deliver the killing blow when a Blaster discharged from behind him. There stood Captain Rex, on the stairs, holding a smoking blaster in his one good hand. Cut finished off the last droid.

The next morning, they were both going to leave on Alpha's speeder. "Goodbye Rex, goodbye Alpha. It was great meeting the two of you."

"Oh and Cut?" he started.

"Yes Alpha?"

"I spoke to Commander Sharp," the smiles on Cut and his family's faces disappeared. "He wanted me to extend his congratulations. Told me you deserved some hazard pay for raising kids."

Cut laughed, "Please thank him, and tell him that his approval was enough." With that more farewells were exchanged and Alpha and Rex drove on to rejoin the Republic Forces. The stories they had to tell.

**Rex is more accepting because Jango relaxed the rules. He (Jango) knew that less devoted men was better than more, not very devoted men. Thanks to Anakyrie for editing the mess that was this chapter, and for the suggestion to get some soup and play L4D. I think I'll take it.**

**Oh and almost forgot, Anakyrie did some sketches of Nyles and Helena. **

**Links:**

**After Nyles extracted her from Perma**

**anarkyrie642. deviantart art/Nylena-521763063**

**A random moment**

**anarkyrie642. deviantart art/Oh-Really-522070970**

**Till next time…**


	16. Chapter 16 - The Mandalorian Crisis

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 16 – The Mandalorian Crisis

_**Several Months Ago**_

**General Jango Fett**

"You're sure?"

"I wouldn't risk contacting you if I wasn't."

"Are you sure that's it's her, and that she hasn't left the planet yet?"

"'Alor, I'm sure. Listen, you just worry about getting onto the planet."

"Your vod did some work on Slave I, I should be alright. Go dark; I may need your services later."

"Yes 'alor."

Jango cut the comm lines and replaced his helmet. He reached forward and holstered his two Disruptor pistols and picking up several power packs. He checked his wrist mounted flamethrower, dart launcher and wrist mounted concussion missile launcher and satisfied that he had enough ammunition he walked out of his personal quarters and toward the armory. Boba had been doing some target practice and he wanted to tell Boba. It was not right to leave him behind but it wouldn't be safe for him to come.

He could see Boba standing in the last firing lane, putting bolts into the dead center of the target with a Westar M7. Next to him was Null ARC A'den and Kal Skirata. He walked over and A'den snapped off a smart salute, "Mand'alor!"

Boba emptied the power cell with another three round burst and then turned toward him, "Hey Dad, off again?" Jango didn't want to have to keep leaving Boba like this. Nothing was more important than family... only she was family.

He gave Kal a look prompting him to turn toward A'den, "Ad'ika, why don't you go and get some food with Boba? Haili cetare (Fill your boots)."

A'den looked at him strangely for a moment and then nodded, "Yes buir, come on Bob'ika."

Jango waited until Boba was out of earshot and then turned to Kal, "I need your help."

"What with, I take it that this particular operation can't be solved with some troopers."

"This is a little more delicate operation; our friend on Mandalore has found her."

"Who?" asked Kal, his confusion made apparent by the frown on his face.

He took a breath, "Arla." Kal didn't even need to say anything, his eyes simply widened.

"Where is she?"

"That's the thing. She's on Sundari."

"Those peace-loving chaakars won't let us land."

"I know a customs officer that will let us land there. The problem is finding Arla quickly after we land."

"Why is that?"

"Because she's there to kill a Jetii."

Kal rarely cursed when he wasn't angry. "Shab, anyone I would know?"

Jango sighed again, "Kenobi. He's there to investigate possible Death Watch activity." Both men knew that the possibility that Arla was alive was slim, and even if she was, the possibility that she was working with Death Watch was going to be unnaturally high. No, not working, brainwashed. Jango felt a lump form in his throat as he remembered that fateful day.

"That causes complications. Are you sure you don't want any other backup? My boys can be quite delicate if they need to."

Jango thought hard for a moment and then nodded, "Jaing and Mereel only, any larger a group and we'll attract attention." Jango knew that their talents would make the entire operation far easier, and their armor would allow them to remain hidden.

Kal nodded and walked off in the direction of the Barracks. Jango just hoped that they could get there in time.

In around half an hour he, Kal, Jaing and Mereel were seated in Slave I on the way to Mandalore. As they were about to exit Hyperspace he turned to the others, "Alright, let's run over the plan again. We all find a nice place to perch so that we can watch our Jetii friend. If we see Arla, Jaing stay out of sight and provide overwatch, Mereel and Kal, you're with me. We're going to stop her and kill any Death Watch hutuune in the area. Is that understood?"

Both Jaing and Mereel nodded, "Yes 'alor." Kal nodded as well, but gave him a concerned look. Jango shook it off; he didn't need his sympathy. He needed Kal's help. Jango took the ship in accelerating toward the planet. He activated his transponder, a false code making Slave I look like another cargo ship. With piracy rife it would not look odd that his ship was heavily armed and jammers prevented anybody inquisitive enough from discovering the array of weaponry that his ship sported. Jango knew that even with this landing at a public space port meant that they would be discovered very quickly.

Slave I skimmed over the dusty surface near the new capital of Sundari, the new regime hoping to avoid the "stigma" associated with the former capital of Keldabe. Jango scowled as he thought of the shortcomings of the new government. They very thought of pacifist Mandalorians was unthinkable... no, these were dar'manda. They were as good as aruetiise.

Jango could see the domed city in the distance, he tapped on the control stick turning toward the dock that they were supposed to land at. He could see their contact there, a figure in green beskar'gam (Mandalorian iron armor), the kute (bodysuit) a dark grey. He brought the ship in slowly not feeling the usual weight on his body thanks to the intertial dampeners installed by Boba. Jango personally didn't care for intertial dampeners, but he didn't mind. Boba needed them, now, after all, being smaller and physically weaker than his father. For anyone else, he'd say only cowards and

He lowered the ramp, gesturing to Kal and his two sons to exit and then activating Slave I's internal security system. He then followed them, remotely triggering the ramp to close behind him, normally he would have set the reactor to slave to his heart monitor but in case this went south and Kal and/or his ade needed a way off-world then they would be able to. Jango sighed, this was normally why he worked alone so that the only person that he needed to bother about was himself, but he understood that working alone always would eventually get him killed.

He had a lot more to concern himself with now than his own personal fame and fortune, he had Boba and the rest of the Mandalorians. He scoffed to himself realizing that despite being Mand'alor he was still not allowed on planet. He stepped forward toward the woman, giving her a traditional Mandalorian handshake. "Saram, how have you been?"

"'Alor, it's nice to see you. I wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"So do I Sar'ika. Have you met Kal's boys, Mereel and Jaing?" She extended her hand shaking both Mereel and Jaing's.

"Nice to meet the both of you, Nyles spoke highly of your skills." Saram noticed the slight confusion in their stance, "Yes, Saram Kote at your service, Nyles' vod'ika (little sister)."

Jango smiled briefly, "How's your buir?"

"She's good, farm's tough work. She misses dad."

Kal shifted uncomfortably, Jango sighed as memories of that horrid day flooded in. Jango would never forget Myles, or that Jedi hutuune that killed him. He had lost a friend that day. Nyles and Saram had lost a buir (father). But Shael had lost a riduur (partner).

Kal, sensing his pain put a hand on his shoulder. "We all do Sar'ika, we all do."

"I know, I know. Now, let's bring back Arla. We shouldn't let those hutuune take any more of our own. I don't know what they're planning but I do know is that your Jetii friend is touring the capital. He's due in the square in the afternoon, after lunch with the Duchess."

Jango nodded. "That's all we need to know. Watch the ship, we'll be back."

She nodded, picking up a Heavy Blaster Carbine off of a nearby crate, "Got it."

He stopped for a brief moment, "If things get rough, get out of here, we don't need any more martyrs. " He turned but could see her long enough to know that she understood. He got into her speeder with Kal and his two sons. He looked at the city around him as Jaing flew the speeder toward a nearby building that suited their purpose. There was little law enforcement and strangely enough little crime, their arrival would be unnoticed.

Jaing set the speeder down on the top of the building, the building was not very tall and it would be easy to see them from the ground, fortunately for them, no one was looking. He stepped out of the speeder and turned to Jaing, "Get set up." Jaing nodded and removed his Verpine Shatter rifle off of his back, moving toward the speeder and unfolding his bipod, letting it rest on its hood.

Mereel and Kal walked toward him, hefting a DX-16 Disruptor Rifle and a Verpine Shatter Pistol respectively. "What's the plan?" asked Mereel.

"Now? Simple, we wait."

Jaing called them over, "We may not have to wait for much longer, I see the duchess's guards. Wait, there's the duchess and her Jetii friend."

Jango frowned, "Friend?" He walked over to where Jaing was crouched.

"Yes, they seem quite friendly toward each other."

Mereel joined them, "So much for no attachments, eh ner vod?"

Jaing chuckled, "That was a stupid rule anyways." Frankly, Jango agreed. People needed something to fight for. What was the point of prohibiting relationships? It was things like love and friendship that kept a man fighting, a sense of responsibility to return to the ones he cared about alive, to keep them safe. Jango was brought out of his thoughts by an explosion in the square in front of him.

He dropped his rangefinder. He could see five figures approaching through the smoke, walking straight toward the Jedi and the duchess. "Mereel, Kal with me now! Jaing, watch our backs." He and Mereel activated their Jetpacks, while Kal took a moment to activate his borrowed one and as three they flew toward the Jedi and duchess, who were now slowly backing away from the five figures in Death Watch armor.

Jango landed first, instantly freeing his disruptors from their holsters, his wrist mounted concussion missile launcher targeting system targeting one of the Death Watch in case things didn't go well. With his helmet's enhanced sensors he could see the Jedi with his lightsaber in hand. "Jango?! What are you doing here?" The Jedi's eyes shifted from him to Kal and to Mereel.

"Saving your shebs, Kenobi. Now shut up and let me handle this."

He could see the duchess stand to her feet, "You and the rest of your savages aren't allowed to set foot on this planet, let alone this city." Jango wanted to say something to her, but there were more pressing matters at hand. The smoke had finally cleared and he could see her, clad in Death Watch armor.

"Jango, how typical to find you here defending the corrupt Republic. Look, more of those Clones, interesting how they think they're anything more than the Republic's slaves."

Kal aimed his pistol at the speaker, "I suggest you think twice, or my boy will drop you before you can utter another word from your aruetyc mouth."

"As if," the Death Watch agent scoffed. "Arla, finish the Jedi and the duchess."

Jango saw her make to walk forward. "Arla stop."

"I don't listen to you, scum!" She said, turning her two pistols on him. Jango felt a lump form in his throat when he realized that they were so similar, they even fought the same way. Jango marked targets for Jaing, Kal and Mereel – he was about to do something stupid and he may not live to have to face his actions.

Jango slowly removed his helmet, no one was going to shoot, it would mean death for everyone and not even the Death Watch were willing to die for their cause if they could help it. "It's me, Jango"

Arla frowned, "Jango? Jan'ika? But no! You're dead, killed by that traitor, Jaster Mereel." Jango would have shot anyone else who dared to disgrace Jaster's memory like that, but he would not lose his vod again.

"I'm alive Arla, right here... They've been using you…you need to see what's happening."

"How do I know it's really you?"

"It's just one of his clones Arla, kill him and let's get that Jedi!" a Death Watch agent shouted.

Jango could see Arla doing the math in her head. He knew that she knew there was no way he would be used as the template for a clone army if he was killed by Jaster. In his panic that Death Watch scum had signed his own death warrant, not that he needed one in any case.

Jango turned around and pummeled the man with a series of blaster bolts, he shot the man next to him with one blaster while putting his helmet back on with the other. The disruptor bolts caught him in the face and tore through the transperisteel visor and a second later his skull. He could see one of the others drop to the floor, his head jerked backward at an odd angle. The two others were dropped with chest shots from Mereel and Kal and the one Mereel, his shot armor was still sizzling.

Arla took a step forward, "It really is you? But how?" she said, almost in tears.

"Arla those hutuune lied to you, Jaster never killed me. Do you remember what happened that day?"

Arla was about to answer when two of the duchess's guards grabbed her by the wrists forcing them behind her. Jango leveled his pistols with the head of the two guards, "Drop her, or I drop you." Kal and Mereel joined him, pointing their weapons at either guard. "I know that you don't have enough firepower on this city to stop me, let alone all three of us."

Kenobi sighed, "Four, there's still your sniper."

"Great job Kenobi, you're not a complete di'kut," he sneered.

The guard turned to the duchess and then at him, "I can't do that, she's committed a crime against the peoples of Mandalore."

He turned to Kenobi, "Hand over my sister, or the Mandalorians, the True Mandalorians terminate our contract with your Republic. That doesn't mean the various trainers, officers and wetwork operatives but also every single clone. How do you propose to fight a war without support Jetii? "

Kenobi frowned, "Let her go."

The guard let go of Arla, who shook her hands free and away from the guard. "Back up aruetii, and do it quick before I lose my temper." Arla walked forward and embraced Jango. "Jan'ika, ner vod'ika, it's been too long. While I don't remember what happened, it doesn't matter. What matters is that our family can be back together again."

Jango just smiled.

**An hour later**

They were back at Slave I, awaiting for Jaing to report back. Arla had been taken in by Nyles' mother until this was over. Her mental state was not good enough to fight, even if she was fine physically. When they were leaving, Jango had heard that Kenobi and the Duchess were heading to Concordia. The Duchess had said that they had exiled all of their warriors there, only none of his people were on Mandalore at the time, those that survived Galidraan had left the planet. Went about their own way. There was only one thing on Concordia, and that was their age old enemy, the death watch.

"Go home Sar'ika" he said, looking at the green armored youth leaning on the crate.

"But 'Alor," she started.

"But nothing. Do you have any idea what your buir would do to me if you were to get into any trouble?"

She nodded slowly, "I have a clue."

"Good, then go. We've got it from here."

"Alright 'Alor, good luck," she said as she walked away toward her speeder.

"Might have to get another speeder," observed Mereel.

Kal sighed, "We won't. We're not staying for long."

Just then the air in front of them shimmered and Jaing appeared, "They're leaving now, if we want to follow them, I suggest we do as well."

"Why are we going to Concordia?" asked Mereel.

"Because, we can't let Kenobi face them alone, and those aruetyc scum need to know that we're back in business."

"Oya!" called out Jaing.

**At Concordia**

"Three targets, dead ahead," Kal reported from the co-pilot's seat. Jango could see them, he moved his fingers to the missile fire system. His HUD beeped as the ship's targeting computer calculated an appropriate trajectory. The missiles were let free from Slave I's rotary missile launch racks. Six missiles streaked out, two for each ship. They hit each ship, dropping them right back onto the ground.

He could see the four Death Watch standing in front of Kenobi and the duchess. Jango activated the ship's external speakers, "Aruetyc Death Watch hutuune, it's time that you died once and for all." He depressed the trigger, sending disruptor bolts flying at them. Two of his men dropped instantly. He turned toward Mereel and Jaing, "Get the duchess out of there." He didn't care for her, but that didn't mean he was going to leave her on Concordia. He hit the button to lower the rear ramp and Mereel and Jaing jetted off.

Vizla slowly pulled himself off of the ground. He watched Kenobi pull his own lightsaber of his own belt, and make for Slave I. Jango was about to fire the killing shot when Vizla jetted off with the other survivor of the Death Watch squad. Once he was satisfied that everyone was on board he closed the ramp and turned the ship back toward Mandalore. "Kal, take the controls." He was going to go and have a 'talk' with Kenobi and the duchess.

Kal nodded, "Try not to kill them."

He walked toward the rear of his ship. He could see the duchess and Kenobi standing there, looking shaken. "Thank you," the duchess told Jaing.

Jaing was silent for a moment and then replied, "Don't mention it, ever." He said as he and Mereel walked off to join their father.

"Are you satisfied, after seeing all this that we aren't the threat to your pacifist society?"

"You are all the same Fett, Death Watch or not."

"It's General Fett, whether you like it or not, you have a problem on your hands. But remember the day when your pacifist ideals fail you, that it didn't have to be like this. Whether you know it or not, this isn't the time for peace. I will still fight to keep these people safe, because _you_ left them at the mercies of the aruetyc and aruetiise."

He turned toward Kenobi, "Thank me later Kenobi." He walked back into the cockpit and sat back in the pilot's seat. They had just left Concordia's atmosphere and were heading towards Mandalore. With the ship's advanced sub light drives that would not be a problem.

"What did the duchess say?" asked Mereel.

"What do you think Mer'ika?"

"You'd think saving her shebs might change her mind," Jaing said.

"She knows it wasn't out the kindness of our hearts," Jango said.

"Regardless..." Jaing said.

"That's annoying..." Mereel said.

"Leave it alone Mer'ika, it doesn't matter." Mereel remained silent. Jango watched as a ship dropped out of Hyperspace. Nyles was here on schedule.

"'Alor, what exactly were you doing on Concordia?"

"Long story, Sharp headed to the surface?"

"Yes, Sharp and Squad 14 are on their way. The _Liberty_ is ready for escort duty."

"Good, wait till I land. Arla and I will be heading to Kamino."

"Sad we can't stay."

"Someday we will Nyles. Someday."

Jango entered the planet's atmosphere. He turned toward Jaing and Mereel "Kal, Arla and I are heading back to Kamino, you two are going to board that ship. With Sharp and his boys on board, distinguishing your armor should be difficult."

"You want us to keep that ungrateful shabuir safe?" asked Mereel. "Alright 'Alor, that can be done."

Jango nodded, "Good man." He could see the domed city of Sundari in the distance. He approached the main docks.

The COM unit went off, "Unidentified vessel, state your purpose."

"This is General Fett, I have General Kenobi and duchess Satine on board."

"Alright, you are cleared for a landing in Bay 3." Jango directed the ship toward the Landing Bay that they had been assigned. He set the ship down, cutting the engines. He lowered the landing ramp and stepped out with both the duchess and Kenobi. Two of the duchess guards approached him and the duchess and Kenobi walked off. By now the _Liberty _was in low orbit, a gunship flying out of a bay on its side.

He heard a complaint from ahead of him, "Get that ship out of here, now!"

"Satine, that ship is in the Republic Navy!" Obiwan told her.

"I don't care, it bears the symbol that I refuse to be associated with," Satine huffed.

"It is our _only _escort!" Obi-wan argued.

"We are not at war Obi-Wan, I thought that you of all people would understand that I wanted to stay out of this war."

Jango walked over, "Good luck dealing with Nyles." Obi-Wan was silent. Jango walked with Kal back into the ship as they made for the Kote farm, before they went back to Kamino.

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"Sharp, we've got a problem."

"What's that, Nyles?"

"You boys are on your own. The good duchess has demanded that the _Liberty_ _not_ provide escort."

"Damn it. We don't have any anti-capital portable weapon systems on the ship do we?"

"No, and even if we did, you wouldn't be able to carry them onboard."

"She _is _letting us carry our weapons on board, isn't she?"

"I'm not sure if she'll care that they're disruptors."

"The guards might not know the difference," offered Flare.

The gunship landed, and he and the rest of Squad 14 walked over to where Skywalker was standing. "General Skywalker, Squad 14 reporting for duty."

"Good, now let's just wait for General Kenobi..." said Skywalker.

"Ah Anakin, am I glad to see you," said Kenobi, appearing next to them.

"You look…tired."

"The peaceful ways of the locals wore me out," he said, right before he stepped onto the boarding ramp on the ship.

Cody, Rex and him all shared confused looks before they joined the two Jedi Generals. As he was stepping aboard his COM unit went off, "Sharp, act calm, Jaing and I are joining you."

As Jaing and Mereel walked over to his squad he turned around, "Where have you two slackers been? Come on, we're getting late."

Mereel walked closer and fell into the formation that Squad 14 was walking in, "Yes sir, sorry sir." And then a moment later on private COMs "Di'kut."

Soon they were in the ship's cargo hold. Not only because the senators on board thought that they were rabble, but also because trouble would likely come from here. "You know your marching orders, the safety of the duchess Satine is of the utmost importance. The Death Watch will stop at nothing to assassinate her before she pleads her case to the Senate" said Kenobi.

"The Death Watch may be backed by the Separatists, so stay sharp" informed Skywalker.

Sharp cleared his throat, "With all due respect sir, we can handle anything those clankers and aruetiise throw at us."

"I know, which is why I'm confident that this will be a safe journey."

Sharp turned toward his men, and nodded. Flare and Data were going to search one sector, while Rain and Deadeye the other. Jaing, Mereel, Rex, Cody and he were going with the two Jedi to the upper decks. As the elevator doors closed, Skywalker spoke "I sense some anxiety from you about the duchess. She couldn't be in safer hands."

"Yes, I know."

"Then why?" started Skywalker.

"Never mind, it's all in the past."

"Oh, so you're close to her."

"I knew her!" said Kenobi, turning angrily toward Skywalker. He dropped his head slightly, turning away from Skywalker, "A long time ago." The two Jedi went off to join the duchess, Sharp got on the COM to Mereel and Jaing. "Mereel, Jaing, follow them." Mereel and Jaing vanished from view and went after the two Jedi.

**Lieutenant Jaing Skirata N-10**

"And yet, some might argue that the strongest defense is a swift and decisive offense." Both he and Mereel stepped inside the room quickly after the two Jedi. He had to agree with the Jedi, he was making more sense than this aruetyc pacifist anyways." The Jedi bowed to show respect.

"You are quite the General now, aren't you, Master Kenobi?" replied the duchess.

"Forgive me for interrupting your highness, I meant no disrespect."

"Really? Senators, this is the collection of half-truths and hyperbole known as Obi-Wan Kenobi." Jaing had to say, that observation was spot on.

"Your highness is too kind."

"You're right, I am."

"Allow me to introduce my fellow Jedi, Anakin Skywalker."

Skywalker took a couple steps forward and then bowed, "Your servant, my lady."

"I remember a time when Jedi were not Generals, but peace keepers."

"We are protectors highness, yours at the moment. We fight for peace." Sure Skywalker, say whatever you like. But know it or not, you fight for the Republic, which fights for dominance.

"What an amusing contradiction," scoffed the duchess, looking at the glass in her hand.

"What Master Skywalker means is that we are acting at the behest of your highness, to protect you from the Death Watch and the Separatists who don't share your neutral point of view."

"I asked for no such thing."

"That maybe so, but a majority of your court did."

"I do not remember you as one to hide behind excuses."

"I do not remember you as one to shrink from responsibilities."

Senator Om Free Ta stepped in between them, "I am certain we all agree, duchess Satine and General Kenobi have proven there are two sides to every dilemma."

"Indeed," agreed Senator Merrick.

"Now, in regard to the Senate vote, we think - " started Om Free Ta.

The duchess cut in, "I think a multitude makes discord, not good council."

"Right again, my lady."

"There may be two sides to every dilemma, but the only one the duchess cares about is hers." Jaing sighed, this was going to be a long trip.

**Lieutenant Data N-8**

"Why didn't they install lights in the shabla cargo deck?" Data complained.

Flare scoffed, "Probably because they wanted to save power for the automated back scratcher."

"They have an automated back scratcher? Do you think they'll let me use it, there's this itch I just can't reach."

"If you don't shut up you'll force me to scratch my itch of kicking your shebs."

"What did I do this time, Cap?"

Flare sighed, "It's just, I really hate that duchess and her di'kutla ideas of peace."

"Well, at least we got the south side, the north side is way creepy."

"What? No its…why do I even bother?"

"You're no fun, sir." He opened a COM channel to Redeye. "Hey Redeye, find anything?"

"No sir, just Skywalker's astromech." Data shrugged and was about to close the COM line when gurgling sounds came in through his helmet. Both he and Flare looked at each other, and they both ran for Redeye's position. When they reached there, they saw a large assassin probe stabbing him with its legs.

"What the!?" he exclaimed in surprise. "Shoot it!" Both he and Flare unloaded into the droid until it dropped to the ground, dead. Data ran over to Redeye, "He's hurt, bad." Flare looked over for a moment before looking away, quick. Flare bent down and grabbed his gun before he turned toward Data.

"Get him out of here, quick! I'll cover you." Data grabbed Redeye by the arms and made his way back to the elevator with Flare walking backward, his Z-8 trained on every nook and cranny in the bay. Damn, he hoped the others were fine.

**Lieutenant Jaing Skirata N-10**

"Republic military presence is the only sure defense against the Separatists," said Kenobi, walking toward where the duchess sat.

"Even extremists can be reasoned with," she argued. Hardly, there was no reasoning with the Separatists, nor would there ever be.

"Perhaps, if one can be heard over the clanking of their battle droids!" Kenobi made a very good point. Jaing was starting to get amused by the brewing argument.

"The sarcasm of a soldier."

"The delusions of a dreamer."

"Duchess, Master Jedi, it's been a long trip. I think we could all use a rest and refreshments." Jaing's stomach grumbled, shab, he could use some refreshments too.

"Here, here! Some good, soldier's common sense! Let us put politics aside until after dinner," said Om Free Ta.

"Fine!" said both the Jedi and the duchess at once. She pushed past him toward the exit. Jaing just shrugged.

**Lieutenant Deadeye N-4**

"Ner vod, we've got assassin probes here, I've called the Commander. We can't afford the mass hysteria taking Redeye to the med bay would cause." Deadeye was taken aback by the message. He looked at Rain who got the message as well. Rain looked worried.

"Da'ika don't let him die, these people don't deserve it."

There was a sigh on the other end, "I'll try, you two stay safe."

Deadeye swept every inch of the bay with his Verpine Shatter Rifle, modified for closed quarters fighting. "Mixer, fall back to our position."

"Sir?"

"Do it quick trooper, we may have trouble."

"I wish I could use my launcher," complained Rain as he scanned the area with his two Plasma Carbines.

"Shut it vod, keep looking." Rain actually listened to him.

They reached a small passage between the crates and saw Mixer walking over to them, "On my way, sir."

Behind him Deadeye could see something moving, his night vision sensors resolved it to be an assassin probe, "Mixer, down!" Mixer dropped like he was ordered to, causing the assassin probe to miss. "Fire!" he ordered. He and Rain fired at it, Mixer pummeled its underside until bolts came flying through the top side. The three of them let out very audible sighs of relief.

**Lieutenant Jaing Skirata N-10**

Jaing followed the two Jedi as they walked through the halls of the ship. "You and Satine have a history."

"An extended mission when I was younger. Master Qui Gon and I spent a year on Mandalore. Protecting the Duchess from insurgents who had threatened her world." Jango had told him about how some of the Death Watch had tried to remove the pacifist government. The True Mandalorians were reeling from the battle of Galidraan. He joined them in the elevator and stayed decloaked, he knew the Jedi were able to sense him and Mereel. "They sent bounty hunters after us. We were always on the run, living hand to mouth, never sure what the next day would bring."

"Sounds romantic," said Skywalker.

Kenobi looked at the three of them. The elevator reached the floor and once more the two of them cloaked, "A civil war killed most of Satine's people, hence her aversion to violence. When she returned, she took on the difficult task of rebuilding her world alone."

"You didn't stay to help her?"

"That would have been problematic." They stepped into a side room, allowing Mereel and him to decloak. "My duties as Jedi demanded I be elsewhere."

"Demanded?" questioned Skywalker, "But, it's obvious that you had feelings for her." Part of Jaing felt that this was partly personal for Skywalker. "Surely that would affect your decision."

"Oh it did. I live by the Jedi code," he said solemnly.

"Of course, as Master Yoda always says, a Jedi must form attachments."

"Yes, but he usually leaves out the undertones of remorse." Jaing felt truly sorry for the Jedi. "And the two of you will tell no one, is that understood?" ordered Kenobi, referring to both him and Mereel.

"Yes General Kenobi."

"Good. I only let you know because I have the two of you, General Fett and Sergeant Skirata to thank for saving our lives today."

"Saving your lives?" asked Skywalker.

"Later Anakin, later." Kenobi's COM link went off. "Yes Commander Sharp?"

"Sir, Captain Rex and my men encountered two assassin probe's down here. One of the Captain's men is injured, we patched him up. But we're sure there's more than the two we destroyed."

"I'm on my way."

Skywalker headed toward the door, "I'll go Master, it's something dangerous down there. Clones and I can handle it."

Jaing and Mereel followed Kenobi to the dining hall, this time they remained uncloaked. "I beg your pardon Senators, our men are investigating a situation below decks. I respectfully ask you to wait here until it is settled."

"What are those two doing here?" asked Satine.

"They're here to assist me Duchess, in case my exaggerated Jedi powers are not up to par" said Kenobi, referring to her earlier comment.

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"All right men, where did you see the droids?" he asked, looking at Redeye whose armor had been removed and bacta patches applied to his wounds. Sharp had to use a battlefield nerve splicer, if Redeye was lucky then he would regain use of his arms after a period of rest.

"South and South East Quadrant General, we dumped them together. We'll take you there."

"Alright, let's move."

Sharp led Skywalker to where the two droid wrecks were dumped, near the turbo lift. "Well, that's not good."

Right as he said that several smaller droids came out of the larger one. "Quick, reverse polarity grenades!" At this range, their sensor suites would need to be rebooted. The squad, Rex and Cody threw their grenades, dropping all the droids. Right then they heard the scurrying of metallic feet on the floor and right as they turned around they saw the last assassin probe scurrying up the turbo lift.

"Obi-Wan, one of the probes is headed your way!" called out Skywalker. Damn, this was _not_ going to end well.

**Lieutenant Jaing Skirata N-10**

"Quickly, secure the lift!" Both him and Mereel turned toward the elevator, weapons drawn. The guards stepped in front as well, a bad move, they were blocking his line of sight to the door. General Kenobi made toward the elevator as a screeching sound was made by the doors being forced open. The droid knocked the two guards back and flinging a third into the wall.

"Fire!" came Mereel's voice through his COM unit. The two of them opened fire, driving it back a moment. His VSR and Mereel's disruptor would have killed it in a single shot more each, if Kenobi hadn't leaved it in two. Jaing sighed, but then tiny probe killer droids began streaming out of the holes in the larger droid's head. Jaing and Mereel threw their reverse polarity grenades, disabling all but one of the droids, which escaped the reduced radius of their grenades. They had set it lower to avoid disabling the power conduits that ran under the room to the fore sensor array.

Jaing was about to shoot the last probe killer when Kenobi put a hand on his rifle, and picked the droid up. "We may be able to access it's memory banks."

"Hardly sir, it likely would not share the same data as it's parent droid."

Just then Skywalker walked in, handing Kenobi what appeared to be the Cargo Manifest "One of our four distinguished Senators, appears to be traitor."

"I sense it too," he looked at the droid "I have an idea about how to expose the turncoat. Return to the hold, destroy the last Assassin droids. I'll find out which of the Senators is the traitor."

Jaing waited by the side as Kenobi went to secure a container for the droid and the duchess and the portly Senator Om Free Ta conversed about the duchess' lack of appetite. He had no idea Twi'lek could even get that…fat. Oh well, not his concern anyways. As Kenobi stepped back into the room the Senator clasped his hands together in anticipation, "Ah, dessert! Excellent!"

"This morsel might prove too much even for the legendary appetite of Om Free Ta," returned Kenobi. Jaing knew what he was doing, and honestly, it was not a half bad idea. Not half as fun as interrogating them personally, but oh well. He pulled off the cloth, revealing a probe killer, "Enjoy."

"On second thought, it wouldn't agree with me."

"My theory, is our little friend will attack the duchess and anyone who defends her. Anyone that is, except the traitor."

The portly Twi'lek whimpered, "Take it away!"

"Obi-Wan this line of questioning borders on torture."

Jaing cut in, "Duchess, believe me, this is preferable to the other method."

She looked at him venomously, "And what might that be."

"Singling out possible suspects and interrogating them." She scowled at him while Kenobi continued moving around the table and Mereel chuckled. The droid stopped trying to break the container when it reached near Senator Merrick.

"It seems to like you Senator Merrick."

"Really General Kenobi," he said. "You're quite clever!" he shouted as he shoved the plate. Mereel shot the droid out of the air while he made for the Senator. He felt several bolts hit his chest, he dropped his rifle and extended his vibroblade barely scraping the Senator's forehead as more shots hammered him back. He crumpled against the wall, warnings going off in his HUD to indicate that his shields were down. He watched the Senator grab the duchess at gunpoint, "You're coming with me." He got to his feet quickly grabbing his gun as he and Mereel flanked Obi-Wan as he tentatively advanced on Merrick, before stopping.

"Anakin, Tal Merrick is a traitor! He has Satine!"

"Got it, we're on our way up!"

They ran through the hallways heading toward the bridge. They saw General Skywalker running toward them, "Did you find him?"

"No, but I've stationed men at every escape pod."

"Merrick will try to signal his allies for help." The four of them stepped into a turbo lift.

"This may not be the time to ask, but were you and Satine ever..." started Skywalker.

"I don't see how this has _any _bearing on the situation at hand!" said Kenobi with increasing order of anger.

Skywalker and Kenobi's COM units beeped, "Sir, droid boarding craft have attached themselves to the ship!" came Captain Rex's voice.

Skywalker nodded, "I'll take care of this Obi-Wan, you go find your girlfriend."

"Right, wait Anakin she's not my - " he started and then dropped it, turning toward them, "Come on!" They continued toward the bridge, when they stepped on, they saw Merrick with the Duchess at gunpoint. The Senate Commandos who manned the bridge were all dead.

"Come in Kenobi, you've been expected."

"You are under arrest, release the duchess!"

"Hmm, I took precautions of wiring the engines with explosives. I press this remote and we all die." Not a dead man's switch, oh well, guess his fate was sealed. Jaing opened fire, a single round through his head. The man instantly collapsed, all motor functions ceasing.

He and Mereel decloaked. "Should have used a dead man's switch shabuir," said Mereel.

The duchess ran over to Kenobi, "Obi-Wan!" Kenobi deactivated his lightsaber and placed a hand on her back to comfort her.

Mereel looked at him, "Come on, let's step off this bridge, General Skywalker and our vode probably need our help." With that they headed to where the droids were boarding, but when they reached, they saw nothing but scrapped droids, three dead guards and one injured trooper.

"You boys are late to the party," called out Sharp.

"Where's Obi-Wan, did you find Senator Merrick?" asked Skywalker.

"On the bridge and shot through the head sir, in that order," he replied.

"Good job you two."

Jaing rested his rifle on his shoulder, "All in a day's work General."

**Jaing and Mereel were just doing their part, just because they didn't like the duchess, didn't mean that they were not professionals. They weren't going to let their personal feelings get in the way. Till next time…**


	17. Chapter 17 - The Mandalorian Vigilante

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 17 – The Mandalorian Vigilante

**Saram Kote**

"You don't have to do this, Sar'ika," said the hologram Jango Fett.

"Those people are dying because the government's pacifist policies. Duchess Satine is completely inept, unable to root out who is behind this."

"This should be a milk run, then, Sar'ika. You got what I sent you?"

"High caliber Verpine Shatter Rifle, DX-16 Disruptor Rifle... I should look like any other well-paid merc. Especially since these di'kute won't know the difference between the DX-16 and the Tenloss Syndicates model," she laughed. "This'll be easy. I'll be done with this before my birthday."

"And if you run into the Jedi?"

"I'll tell her who I am," she said, matter-of-fact.

"And if she doesn't appreciate your support?"

"I'll insist... You know how convincing I can be."

Jango nodded, "Be safe Sar'ika, you know…" he started.

"Yeah, I know, I know. Buir and Nyl'ika would kill you."

"No, your buir would kill me if something went wrong. Nyles would kill me if he found out. So remember, this has to go right."

"On it." Saram gathered up her equipment and walked over to her airspeeder, dumping it in the back. She got in and drove from the airspeeder refueling zone toward her apartment in the edge of the city. It wasn't these people's fault that they had to deal with these new pacifist ideals. Many of them had probably forgotten their old way of life after having to deal with the Pacifist Regime. While she, like anyone with a shred of sense, disagreed with Death Watch, she agreed with the reason behind their revolt against Satine.

In a time of war, halting access to the beskar reserves on the planet was almost criminal. Beskar, near the top of the list of a Mandalorian's greatest weapons. What the shab was this duchess woman thinking? These people didn't deserve what was happening to them. She had heard about what had happened with the tainted food shipments and she had practically volunteered for the job.

Her job was to infiltrate the cadet academy, and get to the bottom of this osik, quick. It wasn't too hard. She was young enough to pass for one at 22. Only she had a Mandalorian upbringing, she was far more mature than your average cadet. It wasn't that Jango didn't trust the Jedi, but that he felt a more…_Mandalorian_ touch was needed. The Jedi would be stripped of her weapon, Saram knew how to hide hers until they were needed.

She landed at the apartment and after seeing the receptionist and getting her keys she took her bags up. The apartment was very modern, and well decorated. Honestly, she didn't care, it was on Republic credits in any case. But such was most of the housing on Mandalore of late, it looked more like what you would find on Coruscant or Corellia. Alderaan even.

She checked her weapons and armor, before hiding them, as well as setting up automated defenses in her apartment. And just in case, an explosive tied to her heart monitor. If she died, no one was going to be able to know that she was here. Hell, the only ones who would know how she died would be her buir and Jango. She shook her head. She was getting too existential. She had a job to do.

In fact, she had classes at the academy next morning. She had used a false name, Saram Netra. She hadn't actually met the Jedi Ahsoka Tano. She had passed her on when she had come to visit Nyles when he was injured. It had been a while since that had happened. He was much better now. She changed into something more comfortable for sleeping and lay down in bed, placing her holdout blaster on her nightstand. Saram drifted off into sleep.

The next morning Saram slipped into her cadet's uniform, her shoulder length hair falling into place quite nicely. She couldn't carry any weapons on her, and she didn't need to. While at the academy she would have to act like any other student. After all, it was only from eager cadets she could learn the roots of corruption, as they would eagerly seek it out.

She made it to the academy and walked into the lecture room, seating herself at the back. She found more than one pair of eyes follow her, which she completely ignored. Soon the lecture had started with Tano introducing herself and then speaking, "Corruption is what happens when someone in power puts their own personal gain before the people they represent."

"So, it's the result of greed?" asked a brown haired cadet, her voice unsure.

"A leader sacrifices moral integrity for the sake of money or power and entire star systems have collapsed into chaos or revolution because their greedy politicians got caught up in a cycle of bribery and blackmail, while their people suffer."

"Does that mean most government officials are corrupt?" asked a blonde haired one, her voice as unsure as the last.

"Well, no. But the point is that temptation is always there, and citizens must be vigilant so corruption can't take root. The deadliest enemies of a society dwell within its borders. And from these internal threats, the people need to be protected."

"But if you don't trust your leaders, isn't that treason?" asked a cadet, scratching his head.

"It's every citizen's duty to challenge their leaders. Keep them honest, and hold them accountable if they're not."

"How do you do that?" asked the nephew of the Duchess himself, Korkie.

"By exposing corrupt officials for what they are. Lasting change can only come from within." Soon class was dismissed and Saram walked over to Korkie and dropped nanobug on him. She smiled as she walked to her airspeeder. She headed back to her apartment and listened in on the bug.

"Be sure your assignments are prepared for tomorrow," came the voice of Ahsoka Tano.

"The school's out of rations, again."

"Guess there'll be no late night snacks tonight."

"Listen, we've had a food shortage since the war began. Transport ships keep coming in, but there's strict rationing. Something is wrong on Mandalore." Really, you think? Take your pick, incapable and/or possibly corrupt leadership, pacifist ideals and so on.

"But these problems are bigger than us, just let the authorities handle it."

"We have to do something about it, like Ahsoka said. Let's go down to the warehouse district and see if there really is a food shortage." Saram smiled and opened the box containing her VSR. She slapped in a magazine and pulled back on the charging handle.

Like she suspected, the Cadets found their way inside, albeit with a little less finesse than she did. She was up in the rafters, somewhere no one would expect to find her. She watched them make their way through, keeping her rifle trained on their position in case they were to get jumped, their silent guardian angel. They had found the meeting between the unmarked guards and what appeared to be smugglers. Some of them seemed to be apprehensive, but they continued with Korkie's plan. She couldn't very well get this information or act on it. She was undermanned (it was just her after all), and she wasn't even supposed to be in Sundari. The Cadets however, with a little help from her, could.

The Cadet Soniee began making a holorecording. One of them however, didn't like the idea, and knocked over the other's datapad and they were forced to run. They split up and she was forced to track one group of guards. The guards caught up to them, and she sighted up the first guard who was holding onto the boot of one of the escaping cadets. She fired, the suppressor reducing the sound to less than a whisper. The round tore through his head. She aimed at the next, who was looking all around for the direction of the shot, and fired. He dropped dead as well. She then dropped the third and jetted over to the vent that she entered through and began making her way out. Her job was done here.

From the recorded conversations, they were off to speak with the duchess, this was a good sign. She had kept them alive, and now they were going to do what she was there to ensure they could do. Saram waited in the apartment until she could learn more about the situation. Soon the bug became active again, transmitting conversation "Aunt Satine, may we speak with you?"

"Of course Korkie, come in."

"We did some investigating, there's no food shortage. We found stores of food at the government port."

"How would you know this?"

"That doesn't matter."

"I beg to differ."

Another cadet spoke, Soniee if she was guessing correctly, "We made a recording of a secret meeting between what we know was a government official and a black marketer."

"That's why everything costs so much," said another. "And so many people are starving.

"We need your help to find the one responsible," finished Korkie.

"This is a serious matter, I agree, but the source of this evil may be more than you cadets can handle. People can be very deceiving. You don't want to get yourselves into trouble."

"But auntie, don't you see? We can't ignore this!"

"I won't, trust me. But for your own safety, you must let me take care of it. Now run along, all of you. Concentrate on your studies, there will be a time to save the world when you're a bit older." Leaving things to the duchess was not a good option. She was beginning to wonder if she would have to approach Ahsoka directly about this, when more conversation came in.

"She refused to help us because she doesn't think we can handle it," said a feminine voice.

"She just thinks we're a bunch of stupid kids," came Korkie's.

"She acted like nothing was wrong!" came Soniee's.

"We need to find someone else who believes us."

"Like who?"

"Mandalore has two people in charge," said Korkie. "Since my aunt won't help, we'll have to go to the prime minister.

"What makes you think he'll listen?"

"I've known him my whole life! He's always told me to come to him if I'm ever in trouble. And I'd say, we're all in big trouble." Something about that put her off, the government official who was in on the smuggling had to be high up, but was it possible he was that high up? No, it was unlikely. In any case, there was nothing she could do but continue to listen in.

"I am most concerned by these allegations my intrepid young cadets," came the voice of prime minister Almec. You think Duchess Satine knows who the conspirator is?"

"She said she was going to handle it," replied Korkie.

"Meet me in palace plaza tonight, bring the recording and all the cadets who know about it." Well, that sounded awfully fishy, she thought as she ate her haarshun bread. She had baked it herself, but she could never get hers as good as buir's.

She quickly made her way back to class and resumed her normal, 'simple cadet' look. Ahsoka stopped midway and turned toward Korkie. "Korkie, you seem distracted today, what's going on?"

"We did what you said, we found evidence of corruption."

"What do you mean?" asked Tano, placing a hand on her hip.

"Well, we were hungry, so we decided to go look for food," said cadet Lagos.

"Food?" asked Ahsoka, wondering where this was going. She would too if she didn't know better.

"Yeah! Down at the government warehouse," finished cadet Amis.

"Someone just let you in to inspect the warehouse?" asked Ahsoka, suspicious.

"No, we broke in," said Amis, like it was to be assumed.

"Oh great," complained Soniee.

"So you committed a crime?" asked Ahsoka, even more confused.

"It sounds bad, I know. But then we saw a meeting and off-worlders and…" started Korkie.

"They chased us!" finished cadet Lagos. "And there was this sniper, who shot the guards!"

"Maybe they chased you because – wait, what? A sniper?"

"Yes, and I know it was a black market deal!"

"My aunt Satine told us to stay out of it. We must do something."

"Do you have proof?" asked Ahsoka.

"We made a holorecording" informed Soniee. "The prime minister is meeting us tonight to…"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Ahsoka.

"I thought you said it was the duty of every citizen to expose corrupt officials. "

"I'm only saying that you should take this slowly. Examine all of the facts, and all of the people involved before you act."

"You sound more like my aunt, than a Jedi Knight." The cadets walked off, as did she. There was somewhere she needed to be tonight. She was soon in position, and she could see the three man team of unmarked police waiting for the cadets, but she wasn't going to shoot until she was completely sure. She was about to fire when she saw a blur moving in. The blur resolved itself to be Ahsoka Tano, who proceeded to kick the shebs of every policeman. They had claimed to be the 'Secret Service', what the kriff was that? Did the pacifists even have a secret service?

She watched as the cadets conversed, she couldn't listen in, the bug was to her datapad which was in the apartment. But her optics showed her just who the person in the hologram was, prime minister Almec. The cadets ran off in the direction of the Duchess' apartment. She followed the rooftops until she was opposite the apartment. Sighting down her rifle, she could see the guards were very dead. The same discovery Tano and the cadets made when they walked in.

They left in the direction of the prime minister's office, Saram barely managed to find a vantage point at this distance. She watched as the Jedi marched in the cadets along with several guards. The cadets were in binders. Was she really planning a…oh, so she was. Oh well, it wasn't as planned but at least the Jedi was more cunning than she had originally perceived. She had proof it was the prime minister, and now she was going to find where they were keeping the duchess.

Getting into the prison was hard enough, she couldn't keep track of the cadets as well. After all air ducts only took you so far, and the ones in the prison were smaller than usual. From up in her perch she had a great vantage point. Looking at the prisoners, she would hate to get locked up here, even the female population seemed filled with scum you could only find on Nar Shadaa.

She could see Ahsoka moving, she assumed that she had found the Duchess, so she followed. Saram had a bad feeling about this, it looked an awful lot like a trap. Tano moved toward the controls, only to have a guard stop her. She 'convinced' him that she needed to interrogate the Duchess and lowered the Duchess from her cell. She walked over to her side and then it dawned on Saram, this was indeed a trap.

As the prime minister walked in, flanked by two guards. The two guards next to Tano 'snapped' out of their trance. If Saram was to assume, since she couldn't hear what was going on, she would say that they never really were influenced by her mind trick. How often did that really work in any case? She found that Ahsoka was now surrounded by a veritable army of guards. The turret in the area turned toward Ahsoka and fired a stun blast. Ahsoka dropped, clutching the point of impact. The guards threw Ahsoka in binders.

Almec held out a datapad to Satine, obviously wanting her to sign a confession of sorts. The Duchess seemed defiant, if Saram was to guess as to what type of man he was, then the Duchess might change her mind very quickly. She watched as a guard placed a shock collar on the Duchess. She was going to have to act quick to prevent this situation from getting out of hand. The Duchess cried out in pain as she was electrocuted.

Saram had enough, she fired at the guard standing next to Ahsoka. She used that time to bring her hands in front of her. Ahsoka kicked the guard next to her while Saram disabled the turret's servo motor with a single large caliber round. She saw the cadets being brought in and fired at the guards escorting them. She continued to fire until her magazine ran dry, killing those guards the cadets or Ahsoka had knocked down. Nine rounds and nine guards later she slapped in a new magazine. In the scuffle, Ahsoka had managed to fit Almec with the Duchess' shock collar, a smart move indeed. They neither her, had the resources to fight an entire prison of guards.

Saram decided to reveal herself, jetting down into the midst of them. Korkie looked at her rifle, "You're the…" he started.

"Your friendly neighborhood Mandalorian sharp shooter, yes."

"You helped us at the warehouse," said cadet Lagos.

"That I did," she said.

Ahsoka gave her a look, "You're Nyles' sister, aren't you?"

She removed her helmet and returned a coy smile, "Maybe."

"I thought I sensed your presence."

"A million questions and not a single thanks."

Almec spoke up, "You're one of those savages! You murdered my men!"

She gave him a look, "And you tortured an unarmed woman, doesn't make you any better than me. It just makes you a hutuun. I doubt you know the true meaning of that very word you scum. You tarnish the very name Mandalorian." She used her blaster to free every one of their binders, watching as the duchess' guard came in and rounded up the guards.

"Well, thank you, I never got your name," said Ahsoka.

"Saram, Saram Kote."

"Thanks Saram, really, we owe our lives to you," said Korkie.

"I just did what I had to," Saram shrugged. "You guys were brave."

"Aw, thanks," said Amiss.

The Duchess raised the lever that raised Almec's cell, "You must know by now, that I didn't bring you here just to teach. I knew something was amiss, but I had no one to trust. I thought if I brought a Jedi, especially a friend of Senator Amidala's, we could solve this mystery together."

"I never doubted you Duchess," replied Ahsoka.

"Neither did we," said Korkie, speaking for the rest of the cadets. She and Korkie embraced and Saram smiled. Well, she had kept her promise to Jango, all wrapped up exactly by her birthday. She would look forward to celebrating with Nyles, he was even bringing some of the men along, even Helena. She and Helena got along quite well, especially the first time they met. She and Nyles were just friends back then, which made conversation a little easier. It had even blossomed into a friendship of sorts, which somehow managed to remain even now that Nyles and Helena were in a relationship.

The Duchess looked at her, "I never imagined that your kind would help me, and I know that your help was most appreciated. However, you have left a trail of bodes. Just like the rest of your kind, you are really nothing but a killer. And while I thank you for your services, I have to place you in custody."

She gave the Duchess a look, "I am not scum to be thrown in your prison, aruetii. I hope you don't plan on making that threat a promise."

Cadet Korkie looked at her solemnly, "Auntie Satine is right."

She looked around and saw that several guards were approaching, she could open fire and drop them, but she would leave a huge trail of bodies before she made it back to the apartment and the airspeeder. There was the possibility of hitting Ahsoka and/or the cadets in the crossfire. Sighing, she dropped her rifle. The Guard reached for her arm, she swatted him away. "Don't touch me aruetii, I'm coming quietly."

She was led away by the guard to the female inmate intake. There she was asked to remove her armor. Left in nothing but a orange prison jump suit over her vest and pants. She was led away by female guards to get mug shots. When they were putting away her armor one of the guards happened to notice her calendar alerts, "Oh it's your birthday tomorrow, we'll be sure to make it extra special." Saram ignored it. She let them drag her in binders to her cell.

So much for getting it done before her birthday. Nyles was even coming in, what was he going to do? Maybe they would come in here and get her out, not that she was worried about anything other than being attacked by anti-True Mandalorian inmates. She scoffed, the guards were probably trying to psych her out. Soon the insults started pouring in, "Republic bitch!", "Whore!" and the like. She ignored the insults and tried to go to sleep, removing the uncomfortable jump suit shirt.

The next morning, she joined the rest of the prisoners heading to the dining hall to get some food. She couldn't help noticing the venomous looks she was getting, not only from the prisoners, but from some of the guards. She continued walking uneasily until suddenly she felt something metallic pulling her hands together. She turned and kicked the offender, sending them flying backward. It was a female Twi'lek prisoner. She must've got the binders from the guards.

"Hold her!" called out the human female from in front of her. Saram moved to attack her aggressor when she felt a kick to the rear of her knew, causing her to drop onto both knees. The Twi'lek stood up and walked over.

"You little bitch!" she swore, running a shiv down Saram's arm, causing her to start emitting cries of pain. "No one can hear you scream!:

The lead human female grabbed the Twi'lek's arm. "No, were going to rough her up, nothing more!"

The Twi'lek grunted and stepped away. Saram felt punch straight to her face, splitting her lip. Then a second, cracking her nose. Then a third, she was sure this was going to leave a black eye. With each punch she emitted a small cry of pain.

Finally the three prisoners threw her to the floor. Saram caught conversation between a guard and a prisoner. "You don't want the warden to hear this." One of the prisoner's came over and covered her mouth with their hands. Saram knew what came next was going to be painful. She felt a foot come down on left hand, she screamed the loudest that she had in long while. And even muffled it echoed throughout the prison.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Thanks for inviting us Nyles," said Sharp.

"No problem, it's a family event and you guys are family."

"That means a lot, trust me, it does."

They exited Hyperspace above the planet Mandalore when the ship's Holocom beeped. "Nyles," said Jango.

"'Alor! You are going to be there aren't you."

"Nyles."

"What? What's wrong, why do you have that look?"

"We need to talk…"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Something's happened."

"What happened, did Sar'ika go and get arrested or something?" he asked as a joke. Jango remained silent. "No. No, no, no, no… Narir va jurkadir ni, 'Alor. (Don't mess with me 'Alor.)" Jango continued to remain silent for a moment.

"Nyles…" he started.

"Don't 'Nyles' me! What happened!? Where is she?"

"She's on Sundari."

"You sent her in there, didn't you? That's why she was too busy to take my calls?" Jango's silence gave him all the answers he needed. "_My _vod'ika!" he screamed.

"She volunteered."

"Why didn't you stop her!?"

"Can anyone when she's made up her mind?"

He sighed, "No."

"I'm trying to get Kenobi to get the Duchess to release her, Nyles."

"To haran (hell) with Kenobi, I'll storm the shabla prison myself!"

"I don't want to assault the prison, Nyles," he started.

"What happened 'Alor? What happened to the man ready to stare death in the face?"

"What if she is hit in the crossfire Nyles? Could I forgive myself, could you?"

He took a breath, "No. But I am going to that prison, and to haran with you, too if you try to stop me."

Jango closed his eyes, "Alright. Just don't do something di'kutla." Sharp gave Jango the 'Do you think that's going to happen look.'

"Thanks for your advice," said Nyles as he cut the COM.

Helena turned toward him, "Prison break?"

"I wish, but no."

"Then what are we doing?"

"We're going to try something else."

He flew toward the domed city, he could see a Mu-class Shuttle there. Great, Jetii, well he could find an answer. He set the ship down quickly, grabbing his rifle and stepping out, Helena, Blade, Sharp, Data, Flare, Deadeye, Rain, Razor and Wraith following him to make sure he didn't do something stupid. He could see Skywalker and his Padawan. "Admiral, I heard…" started Skywalker.

"You heard? Of course you heard! What did you do Anakin!? What did you do!?" he screamed.

"This is a delicate situation, Ahsoka informed me that…" started Anakin.

"She saved our lives Admiral, but the Duchess was very clear, despite the insistence of several of us," continued Ahsoka.

"Us?"

"The Cadets and I."

"Cadets?" he asked, almost speechless, wondering what the haran was going on here. "Take me to her, now!"

"I don't know…" started Ahsoka.

"It's alright Ahsoka," said a new voice. "Admiral Kote, I am Duchess Satine."

Nyles turned toward her, "I know who you are aruetii."

"What your sister did was not right, but I will not refuse a brother's right to see his sister."

Soon Nyles and the others were in the prison, walking to Saram's cell. "I must warn you Admiral, we had an incident," said the guard. The Duchess was long gone, it made him wonder what she didn't want to be around for. Or what this incident was that she feared him so much.

"Incident?" he asked, indignant.

"Between some of our female prisoners, they didn't take too kindly to your sister's heritage."

"You left her in general population knowing that some of the prisoners harbored anti Mandalorian sentiments!?"

He looked peeved at the use of the word Mandalorian here, but he ignored it. Frankly Nyles didn't care if he was peeved or not. "We broke it up early, but…" He never finished his sentence. Sitting in the cell, holding her legs, dressed in a white vest and prison jumpsuit pants was Saram Kote.

"Shab…" breathed Sharp.

"What the kriff…" breathed Helena.

Her lip was split, and she had a black eye, there was a cut running down her right arm and a cast on her left. There was dried blood underneath her nose. Nyles removed his helmet slowly. "Nyl'ika, come to wish me happy birthday?" she asked, voice gravely.

"Sar'ika…" words failed him, no more came out of his mouth. Instead all he saw was red and before he realized it, he had thrown a punch at the guard.

"Nyles!" exclaimed Anakin. He threw another punch.

Sharp called out his name, "Nyles, stop!" He sent a kick at the man's midsection. Sharp put a hand on his shoulder but he pulled free and picked the man up by his collar, slamming him into the transperisteel cell wall.

"You worthless shabuir! Look what you've done!" he screamed at the man.

"It's not my fault…" he started.

Nyles cut him off, turning him to face Saram, "Look at her!" the man refused. He smashed his head into the wall once more, "I said. Look. At. Her!" he turned his head. "Do you see what's wrong!? No, but maybe then you don't need your eyes!" He extended his vibroblade slowly when the voice of a single person broke him out of his blood lust.

"Nyl'ika! Vod, please, stop!" he turned to see Saram looking at him. Looking around he could see several guards with their shock sticks out. Sighing Nyles dropped the man. They couldn't arrest him, diplomatic immunity, but they could make this an issue. There would charges, that would be dropped under the circumstances, but this would lead to more problems. But he just dropped, into the bits of blood on the floor, warm tears pouring down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there."

She gave him a smile, "You can't be here to watch over me always ner vod, just like I couldn't be there to watch over you." She was talking about when he got stabbed by Bane. "But I knew my vod was stronger than that, and you know that this is just a scratch." He tried to smile at his sister's morbid sense of humor, but all he did was heave out another sob. "Stand up ner vod, your Jetii friend will get that Duchess to sign my release and we'll go home, forget that this all happened." She was always the stronger one, always the optimist, not that he was a pessimist. But she had this talent of seeing the good in any situation.

Before long, Kenobi and Jango had secured Saram's release, with threats and favors. They had secured her armor as well as the weapons and other equipment from her rental apartment. They were dropped off on the landing pad where Nyles had parked the shuttle. Also on the pad was Kenobi's fighter and Slave I. Waiting for them was Kenobi, Jango and their mother. As they neared she gave a big hug to Saram. "Ow buir, remember, broken arm." Their mother just shook her head as they headed for their ships, quite ready to go home.

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"Ow, are you sure you're doing this right?" she asked as he applied a swelling reducing agent to her eye.

"You're not the first female I have administered first aid to, Sar'ika."

"Uh huh, anyone I would know?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe a particular Republic Agent who happens to be dating your vod."

"Oh, should I ask her?"

"You don't really want to know."

"Don't I?"

"Not really. How'd you break the arm?"

"Stepped on," she said. He ran his scanner over her arm.

"Okay, that looks like it set correctly, your right arm should be fine. I'm gonna put a bacta patch on it, so it'll heal quicker. I also got you a military grade cast, which should help your arm heal faster."

"Thanks, Sharp," she said giving him a smile.

"Yeah, no problem Saram."

"Sar'ika, remember, even buir said that you guys are practically family now."

"Alright, then Sar'ika" he said, right as he placed the bacta patch on the gash on her arm. He reached for her cast and pulled gently.

"Ow, careful you di'kut!" she complained, before giving him a childish smile, "Now that you're family, I can curse at you all I want." Sharp rolled his eyes. With some pain he was able to remove the old cast and place the new one instead. "That actually feels better. Any advice?"

"You should have decent mobility, since it's not broken that badly... Just don't go getting in any firefights."

"I've had my fair share for a couple of days."

"A week or two in the _least _Sar'ika." She reached forward and gave him a one armed hug, at first his eyes widened in surprise, but then he just smiled and returned the hug. She stood up and walked toward the entrance, where Nyles was sitting alone.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Nyl'ika, mind if I join you?" asked a voice from behind him.

"Sar'ika? Oh not at all," he tapped the chair next to his. She instead walked over and sat in his lap.

"Remember the last time we did this?"

"Yeah, before I left for the academy. I complained you were getting heavy. Oof, you still kinda are."

"Very funny Nyl'ika," she said, giving him a look.

"Heard from Ahsoka what happened, I can't believe after all you did for them, they threw you in prison."

"Well the Duchess is a dini'la bitch that needs to be gone, but some of these pacifists actually have gett'se."

Nyles smiled, "Don't let Kenobi hear that."

"Oh I'll say it straight to his face and proceed to kick his shebs with one arm in a cast if he has anything to say about it."

Nyles let out a laugh, "I'm glad to see that your sense of humor is intact."

"So when did you plan on telling me about Hel'ika?"

"Helena? I was going to get around to it…" he started.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," she said, gesturing to her cast.

"Oh well, why not? So, you and everyone else were right when you said that the two of us belong together, and that we weren't 'just friends'."

"Are you acknowledging that I was right?"

"Yes."

"Maybe I should get my shebs kicked in a pacifist prison more often."

He gave her a stern look, signifying that it was _not_ funny, "No, you shouldn't."

She gave him a smiled, "Go on then."

"Okay, so then we were on our way back to Coruscant when we received her distress beacon."

"Ooh! Mandos in scuffed beskar'gam are the new knights in shining armor!"

"You've been watching too many vids, besides, this is Helena we're talking about."

"Point taken."

"Yeah, right after we secured the area and freed her, she leaned in and kissed me. That kinda confirmed things."

"That's kandosii! Did you guys do anything interesting, other than see that movie?"

"See what movie? Oh, so you were in on it?"

"Well…"

"Well...?"

"Technically…yes."

He sighed, "Well, that's alright. There's not a single thing that you could do today that would make me upset with you, vod'ika."

"Anything?" she grinned deviously, raising her eyebrows.

"Don't push it." She leaned back and they took in the sights and sounds of the surroundings.

**Saram Kote**

In all honesty, seeing Nyles crack like that made her realize just how bad a shape she was in. She would need to stay on those painkillers for a couple of days. Nyles had walked off a short while back saying that he was going to get something, but he was carrying a Verpine Shatter Rifle instead of his DX-16. Speaking of weapons, Jango had decided to let her keep the ones she used on Sundari.

Sitting on the deck, letting her skin soak up the evening sun was a great feeling. "Have you seen your vod?" asked her mother from behind her.

"He went out with his rifle buir."

"He had said that he wanted to bring one back for you, just to remember old times."

"Bring what?"

"Oh, you know your vod, he wants it to be a surprise."

"You're not upset buir?"

"Not at you Sar'ika, it wasn't your fault. But if I see that dini'la duchess, I'm going to rip her head off." Soon they could see a figure on the horizon, dragging what looked like a shatual. Saram smiled.

Later that night they were all gathered around the table in the homestead. The guests were small in number, but diverse; from Jedi to the Mand'alor himself. They were gathered around the cake while glasses of Netra'gal were being passed out. Data reached forward for a slice of cake when her mother slapped his hand, making him withdraw rather embarrassed.

Nyles raised his glass, "Sar'ika. She's a girl of many talents: close quarters combat, a decent marksman, she's funny. But that's not what most people would say, I think people would say first and foremost that she is the best vod, adiik and burc'ya that anyone could ask for. To me, she will always be my vod'ika, and what happened today has hurt me. It has hurt all of us here. But tonight, we will drink to sharing another year together."

"Oya!" came the cheers in response.

She smiled, all things considered, the day was really looking up.

**Yes, I 'borrowed' the last name of your OC Anarkyrie…Oh well.** **Satine's a bitch, and Nyles life is becoming more and more chaotic as this war winds on. Till next time…**


	18. Chapter 18 - Suspension

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 18 – Suspension

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

There was something about being home that made everything seem different. When he walked into his old room, suddenly he wasn't a Republic Admiral. He was a Mandalorian teenager again. The room was like he left it before the academy. There were parts for blasters everywhere, the original frame that his hunting blaster was in could be seen on the table, along with the original focusing coil. "Well, this is a mess," said Helena from behind him.

"I'm pretty sure buir removed the shorted power supply I had on my desk."

"Yeah, the smell that thing would have been giving off? I'm not surprised," she replied. "So this is what pre-Naval Academy Nyles Kote's bedroom looked like."

"Yes. You're not surprised?"

"Not in the least, believe me. I expected it to be a bigger mess than this."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, giving her a look.

She chuckled, "Don't worry about it."

He was about to press further when his COM unit went off. It wasn't one of his men, the emergency line on the _Guardian_ but it was from Naval Command. Nyles quickly accepted the communication, opening a line. "Admiral Kote here," he noticed that it has a higher ranking Admiral and so he added, "Sir."

"Kote, do you know the meaning of a diplomatic incident?"

"Sir?"

"Don't play stupid with me son. I know what happened in that Mandalorian Prison. The Duchess and her government haven't stopped complaining that you beat the warden within an inch of his life." Nyles hadn't known that it was the Warden, just assumed it was a high ranking guard. Oh well, now he was even more at ease with what he had done, knowing that justice had been served to the right person. But this wasn't his fault.

"Sir, then you know…" he started.

"Son, I know what they did to your sister. But she knew the risks when she signed up for the operation. Don't get me wrong, I would have done the same thing in your place. I'm fine with letting you off with little more than a slap on the wrist. However, there are those in the Senate that feel because of your connection to the 'True Mandalorians', you need to be made an example of. That's why you are being given mandatory leave for the next week."

"Sir, but…"

"That's the most I can do for you son. Consider it a vacation. Spend some time with your family, and of course Agent Deviss." Nyles was about to have a panic attack, how did Rear Admiral Jerec Dakson know? "Ease up son, your secret is safe with me. I just happened to overhear General Zey talking about it once."

Di'kutla Jetiise and their gossip! "Thank you sir, and I will."

"Take care Nyles—that's an order. I wouldn't want one of my best Admirals to have problems in doing what he does best."

"Yes sir." The COM line went dead.

"Mandatory leave?"

"You saw the call, didn't you?"

"That I did. Take his advice Nyles, that and shoot Zey for not knowing when to shut up."

"I'll take it under consideration... Come on, better tell the others."

"You mean warn your mother, right?"

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"Sar'ika, and here I thought that I might have to drag you here for your second checkup," he said as he turned toward the doorway to what was the living room. In walked Saram, dressed in a vibrant colored summer dress. **(...do Mandalorian women wear dresses...? I was under the impression they didn't, even when trying to impress men...)**

"When the medic is such a nice guy? No way."

Sharp chuckled, "Come now, sit down." He gestured toward the bench. She dutifully walked over and sat down. He began peeling the bacta patch on her arm off.

"Ow. Seriously, are you really a medic?" she asked. He ignored her comment, the wound had completely healed. He removed it completely. He gave it a quick rub with a cleaning spirit to remove the trace amounts of adhesive from her skin. He checked the status of her arm using his datapad. The inbuilt chip in her bandage told him how the healing process was going.

"Good, your arm seems to be healing well. Let me see that black eye, and your nose." She turned her head dutifully and for a moment they stared into each other's eyes. Suddenly she leaned in and he pulled back, "Stop."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't do this," he said withdrawing. "Sar'ika, you're on painkillers, this isn't what you want to do."

"What if this is what I want to do?"

"Then I better start praying Nyles sees it that way."

"Sharp, you're a good guy."

"We haven't spent much time with each other, how do you know that?

"We've spent plenty of time. When Nyl'ika was unconscious, planning Helena and Nyl'ika's date... we talked a lot yesterday."

She was right, but he had never seen her like that. He couldn't deny, she was attractive, but Nyles vod'ika? Was that even right? If he thought he had even had the slightest chance during their first conversation, then he might have considered it. "Look, why me?"

"Like I said, you're a good guy. Look, ever since I first met you I had this feeling…that I couldn't shake." Sharp was beginning to worry if he dosed her with truth serum instead of painkillers. "When you were planning Nyles and Helena's date…"

"Well, I do know what the ladies like," he agreed.

"Most of all, you don't care about some of the things that I've done."

"Because I've done worse."

"What's the problem here?"

"Look…how about this. I'll get some leave on the pretext of tending to your wounds. When I can, I'll take you off the pain meds and then you and I will go on a date. If it doesn't work then don't say I told you so, but if it does then you were right."

"Am I that undesirable?"

"No! It's not that. Look, I don't want to hurt you Sar'ika. We both need to be sure that this is what we want, do you know what Nyles would do to me if I hurt you?"

"Do you know what _I _would do?"

"Point taken." He stood up and extended his hand out to her. "Do we have a deal?"

She took his hand, "Deal."

He let go of her hand and was about to leave the room when Nyles stepped in, "Nyles, what's going on?"

"A week's leave, that's what's going on."

A voice crackled in their earpiece, "Sir, after I finished my flight I spotted an _Aka'jor-class _Shuttle on an inbound vector sir."

"Well, well, well. Looks like those pacifist hutuune have found us," he said as he reached for his rifle.

"They're going to learn that they've got something else coming if they think that they can just come here like that," said Nyles as he handed Saram his side arm and grabbed his rifle from the weapon case that he had retrieved his from. From the door to the living room, Nyles' buir and Agent Deviss emerged. Shael Kote was wielding a large barreled blaster rifle and Helena her signature Westar Disruptor Pistols.

They ran out the door where the rest of Squad 14 had taken up positions on the house's from porch that faced the primary landing pad, currently occupied by Nyles' shuttle. The Aka'jor shuttle hovered for a moment, Blade's personal 'Void/Tra' fighter kept its weapons trained on the shuttle, even as it descended. Safeties went off as the defender's guns beeped to signify that. The shuttle doors dropped open, out walked four very shocked cadets. "Oh my!" exclaimed one of them.

"I told you this would happen!" exclaimed the second male in the group.

"Shut it Amiss!" hissed another. He looked straight at Saram, "Can you tell your friends to lower their weapons, please?"

"They're my family," she said giving him a look, then sighing. "But I will tell them to lower their weapons." She turned toward them, "Narir sacitr daab ad'ika, a bu'yraosarha vabayr. (Put the guns down guys, but check the shuttle.)"

"We come in peace," offered the same brown haired cadet who spoke first. He scoffed, waving Deadeye and Rain forward to check the shuttle.

"What are you doing here?" Saram demanded.

"Can we come inside please?" asked another blonde haired one. "We just wanted to see how you are doing, we do owe our lives to you after all." Saram nodded, and weapons all round were lowered.

Deadeye reported in, "Shuttle's clean sir."

"Good, let's get back inside."

**Saram Kote**

They were soon sitting at the table. "Caf or Netra'gal?" asked her mother.

"Do you have Sapir tea?" asked Soniee.

Her mother smiled, "No, none of us drink that. So Caf, Netra'gal, or whatever other hard liquor I have on hand?"

"Caf please," said Soniee very quickly. Her mother nodded and walked off in the direction of the clinic with Nyles going to help her, while Sharp stood by her chair, leaning on the wall.

"Could you please give us a moment?" Amiss asked Sharp. Sharp stared at him a good minute and then scoffed.

"No. Whatever you have to say, you can say with me here."

"Udesii, Sharp. I'm just as good with one arm," she said nodding at the disruptor at her arms reach.

"How do you tell them apart?" asked Amiss.

Sharp turned toward him, "Well, I'm the one that _might _patch you up after you piss off Deadeye or Rain, who'll remove your head or blow your shebs up if you piss them off. I'll be in the next room Sar'ika," he said as he made to walk off.

"Are you on leave?" asked Soniee.

"We don't go anywhere without Admiral Kote," he said simply. Saram didn't see the need to explain any further. If they were smart enough to infer what would have likely happened over the last two days then they would know, if they couldn't, then they didn't need to know.

"He beat the warden within an inch of his life," said Lagos.

Sharp fixed her with a glare, "Normally I would have said that it is a pity that he didn't finish him, but he wasn't worth the effort."

"How could you say that?" asked a shocked Soniee.

He gave her a look. "Did you see what happened to his sister?" he asked, gesturing toward her.

"Leave it alone Soniee," said Korkie giving Sharp a look. "Auntie Satine was wrong about Saram, but she wasn't wrong about Jango Fett, or any of his _clones_."

Sharp took a step forward, "I may be a _clone_, but at least I'm not an aruetii!"

"We're here to say that we're sorry about what happened," said Lagos, stepping between the two of them and fixing them both with looks. "We owe our lives to you, and we wish we could have done more."

"You're kids, you did what you could," she said sighing.

Amiss gave her a look, "Excuse me, how old are you?"

"It's not about age, I turned an adult when I was thirteen. You?" she sighed, "It doesn't matter, I'm still alive and not too much worse for the wear."

Soniee walked over and gave her a hug, "What we really meant to do was that. We would like to be friends, and we were hoping…"

"You were hoping that me being thrown in jail by Korkie's dini'la aunt wouldn't change that. Relax, I was there for me to protect you, and you showed courage. Not the frightened pacifists I was expecting."

Korkie nodded, "A pacifist is someone who doesn't go looking for a fight, not someone who's afraid to fight for what he believes in. My aunt may have made some bad decisions, but she's not crazy."

"That's something that makes sense, no, if you would like to be friends then you know that your government won't approve. Do they know that shuttle's missing?"

Soniee smiled, "Sometimes trackers tend to break." Saram let out a laugh.

"I knew I had a good feeling about you guys, even you, Amiss." They laughed only stopping when Nyles and her buir walked back into the room.

"You must be Saram's brother," he said extending his arm to Nyles in a handshake. "I'm Korkie Kryze."

"That name is not welcome in this house. However, Saram told me all about the four of you. You're alright, but remember, your government was about to lock you, a Jedi and your 'Duchess' away for good, for no reason I might add. And now that you can see what your duchess's trusted guards did to my sister, do you see what's wrong?" Not even Korkie was able to say anything. "Glad to see you agree," he said as he passed the mugs of caf all around the table.

"We're all sorry for what happened to Saram. So is Auntie Satine."

"But not sorry enough to stop using the Death Watch as an excuse, to let us come in and deal with those shabuir. If you refuse to deal with something, you're no better than what you refuse to remove."

"Are you so different from those you claim to be? You beat that man within an _inch _of his life!" accused Korkie.

"I don't have to explain myself to you, _boy_. You saw what happened, do you think he didn't deserve it?"

Korkie paused, "No. He did."

"Then you're less of a pacifist di'kut than I thought. You think that at a time like this, pacifist ideals will work? People will just exploit that weakness. There are enough people who hate the Mandalorians. By distancing yourself from us, you only show them that you are weak. A planet is only as strong as its Leader, and a Leader is only as strong as those willing to give their lives for them."

"Surely it prevented us from being dragged into this war," he said.

"You're already in this war, whether you like it or not. Where do you think the Death Watch got the courage to come out of whatever rock they were hiding under?" Korkie looked like he was taking in what Nyles was saying. "If you don't fight for something, then it probably wasn't worth it in the first place. If you lose someone, the answer is not to throw away your weapons, but it is to keep firing. Hopefully you understand that."

"I understand, I really do. We lost so much in the last civil war, we just…"

"Thought that if you tried to distance yourself from your own culture, you'd avoid conflict? Conflict is in your nature, it's why our ancestors weren't wiped out. And it's men like Sharp, Rain, Deadeye and many others that fight to make sure you can have the peace you so badly wish for. What if the Republic had no army? Do you think the Separatists would leave you alone?"

"No."

"Whether you acknowledge us, we're fighting and dying so that you can live. How do your aunt and the rest of your government repay us? The call us savages and lock us up in prison cells."

"I…I see. What can we do?"

"Now? Nothing. But one day the time will come when you will be forced to make a choice, stand and fight like the warriors you're supposed to be, or die like the aruetii you crave to be like. Ideals are nice, but you have to be prepared to take the fight to your enemy for them to be worth anything."

"Great speech Nyl'ika," she said smiling, truly proud of him. He had put it so well.

"Thanks Sar'ika," he said, ruffling her hair. The cadets giggled at the annoyed face she made.

"I'll leave you alone," he said as he left the room. She looked around the room, they all knew that what Nyles had said was true.

"He's very passionate," said Soniee.

"We all are, when you don't count the GAR, there aren't very many of us left. And when you do, you see more of us fighting and dying for people who could care less for us. But it's just another job, and it's what we do."

"How do we become Mandalorian?" asked Korkie.

She frowned "What?"

"I said, how do we become Mandalorian?"

She smiled, "Repeat after me."

_**Several Days Later**_

**Commander Sharp N-9**

The sun felt really nice on his skin, the sights and sounds of the Mandalorian country side was un-paralleled. It was like nothing he had experienced ever before, just sitting here with someone admiring the natural beauty of where he came from. Jango may have been born on Concord Dawn, but every Mandalorian felt a sense of belonging on the planet. Taking a bite of a freshly made sandwich from their container he turned toward Saram, "You know what? This was a good idea. These sandwiches are…"

"Pretty damn good, eh? Yeah, I can't cook much, but what little I can? I do really well. Nerf Steak, cheese…well, let's just say that aruetii have good ideas sometimes," she said, smiling at him.

He returned the smile, "So, now that you're off the pain meds, what do you say?"

"Considering we just spent the last hour and a half together, and the only argument we had was who killed that last vhe'viin…" she started.

"I do see your point, in fact I might be inclined to _strongly _agree with it."

"Well, I'm glad that it happened."

"I still don't see what you see in me that Flare or even Rain don't have…okay, maybe not Rain."

"Your sense of humor, you have that charm…you just want me to flatter you," she said, giving him a look.

"Look, I like making sure that…" he was cut off as she leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips.

"How's that for a confirmation?" she asked.

"I don't know, you think you could do that again?" he asked, hopeful. She gave him a look.

"Come on, we had better get back."

They began walking back to their speeder, "So, was that a yes?"

"Sharp…"

"Right, got it."

They made it back to the house, stopping the speeder near the front. They walked hand in hand toward the entrance, stepping through the door. "And where did the two of you go?" came the voice of Admiral Nyles Kote.

"Just for a quick drive, Nyles," he blurted out.

"Oh really? You know Sharp, I don't mind that you're dating my vod'ika, in fact I'm glad it's you. I do mind that you lied about it."

"Sorry Nyles, I neglected to tell you…" he started.

"Sharp, you don't have to explain your personal life to me. Like I said, I'm glad. But…" he said, walking over to him, "If you ever hurt my sister, I will break both your legs and kick your shebs so badly…" If there was ever a time that Sharp found the Admiral ever _truly _terrifying, it was right now.

"I'm get the point," he said. "She is your sister, sir. She's a wonderful woman and I will treat her like a queen."

"I'm right here," said Saram, feeling rather awkward. "Besides, I don't think you could break Sharp's_ wrist_, never mind his legs."

Sharp shook his head slowly, "Don't underestimate your vod when he's angry Sar'ika, put the CQC instructor in the med bay once."

Nyles chuckled, "Get out of here you two love birds."

Sar'ika snapped off a mock salute, "Aye, aye Admiral."

_**Several Days Later**_

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Well, that went well…" he started, talking about the disciplinary hearing.

"It could have gone a lot worse…" said Jango, slipping his helmet back on.

"Well, at least they understood," he noted as he placed his helmet on top of his head.

"Well, they're thinking with what's underneath their buy'ce instead of their shebs."

"Rare moment."

"Better tell Sharp to head to the landing platform, if I have to stand another moment in this place with all of these stuffed shirts, I might shoot something." Nyles looked at Jango, understanding, but slightly concerned.

"So first I beat a prison warden, and then you open fire in the Senate building? Isn't that going to look great on the evening news. Speaking of the news, you see what the 'un-aligned' press has been saying about me?"

"Unfortunately."

"It's not much better than what the Republic press is saying about me. They either make me out to look like a complete backward mouth breathing savage or as if the pacifist chaakars half beat _Sar'ika_ to death. If that was the case _I _might have shot someone."

"We would have all joined you."

"As long as you would have let me shoot that dini'la duchess myself…"

"No, that would have been Sar'ika's birthday gift," said Jango.

"And she would've loved it."

Both of them laughed. They kept walking, except there was a huge collection of people by the exit. Nyles could smell something burning. Jango and he pushed past the crowds until they saw a group of Coruscant Security Troopers. Looking ahead, he could see a large industrial speeder crashed in front of the Naval Command building.

"Trooper, what's going on?"

"Crazy chaakar trucker tried to ram his shabla speeder into the building, CSF wanted to try talking him down, didn't give us much time to shoot him down sir."

"Shab, can't believe the protests are getting that bad…" he said.

"Better believe it sir, I'm just waiting for the day that an angry mob of civvies is going to come down here…In any case sir, no one's going out this way until the Firefighters get here. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said as he turned around.

"I know another exit, 'Alor, but it cuts through the Senate building."

"Not like I have a choice…"

"Unless you want to stay here…"

"I see your point. Alright, lead the way."

They walked over to the door that led into the Senate Building. "Here it is, 'Alor. In fact, it should open now." The two of them stepped through the door, but right as they did so the door shut sharply behind them. "What the kriff was that?" He walked over to the door and hit the release button, but nothing happened. Nyles began wondering when an alert in his HUD set off. He looked at the flashing icon that said 'Senate Building Lockdown.'

"Nyles…" started Jango.

"I see it, that's not good."

"No, it's not. We need to find out what's going on."

"With any luck, the internal COM network should still be up."

"That chaakar Palpatine would know what is going on."

Nyles poked his head around the corner of the corridor, "Better hurry 'Alor."

"This is General Fett on GAR secure internal line, is anyone still active on this frequency?" came Jango's voice through his helmet.

"General Fett? It is wonderful to hear your voice," replied Chancellor Palpatine's voice.

"What's the situation, chancellor?"

"Those bounty hunters have taken hostages, they have placed the building on lockdown! They want me to free Ziro the Hutt, they're on their way up now!" he almost screamed. Nyles and Jango looked at each other in confusion. Was that what this was about?

"Stand by Chancellor, help is on the way."

"But what about the Senators?"

"Commander Sharp should be with you, we'll handle the Bounty Hunters. Who was the one that made the demands?"

"A Duros, had breathing implants…" started the Chancellor. Jango looked straight at him, Bane was here.

Nyles got on the COM to Sharp, "Sharp, I need you to get into the Chancellor's office."

"Into the Chancellor's office? Have you kriffing lost it, sir?"

"Just do it, he should be happy to see you. Prepare for contact the moment you're in though."

"Right, we're on it, sir! Good luck, Nyles."

"Shab, I'm going to need it..." Nyles said. Sharp cut the COM. Nyles turned toward Jango. "Sharp's on his way."

"Good," said Jango as he walked ahead, Disruptors in hand.

"Looks like that airspeeder crash was a diversion to draw the Coruscant Guard off."

"Certainly looks like it."

"Bane's thorough, if anything."

They traveled in silence before long the sound of blaster fire reached their ears. This was followed by an IG-86 droid and a Weequay chasing Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker down the hallway. "Skywalker, duck!" called out Jango. He and Jango opened fire, he dropped the IG-86 with a burst to its chest, and Jango put the Weequay down with burst to his.

"General Fett, Nyles, am I glad to see you two."

"Where's your lightsaber," he asked.

"I, uh…misplaced it."

"You what?!" Nyles asked, incredulous.

"Save it," hissed Jango. He turned to Skywalker, "Where's Bane?"

"Central courtyard," he said.

Jango nodded, "Nyles."

Nyles nodded, pulling his sidearm free of its holster and handed it to Anakin, "Don't shoot yourself."

"I'll try and keep up," he said as the trio made their way to the walkway above the courtyard.

Sharp's voice came through his COM unit, "Nyles, we've secured the Chancellor and dropped the IG-86 that Bane sent in."

"Roger that," he said as he turned to Jango and Anakin. "Sharp's secured the Chancellor."

"Good," said Jango as they took cover behind the low wall that lined the edge of the walkway.

Suddenly, a voice boomed out through the courtyard, "This is Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard! We've got you surrounded! Release your hostages and we will let you escape, unharmed."

Nyles could see Bane walking toward the entrance, "You're a terrible negotiator Commander! What makes you think I won't kill the Senators anyway, now that you've got me cornered?"

"Listen bounty hunter, no one has to get killed today. Just release the Senators and we'll let you go." Targets started popping up on his HUD, the two IG-86 droids next to Bane, as well as a countdown timer. Nyles sighted in and waited, firing once the timer hit zero. With two, two round bursts, the droids hit the floor with a clang. Aurra Sing and Bane however ducked behind cover.

"Senators, go! Go now!" called out Anakin. The panicked Senators ran out, while he Jango and Skywalker fired at Bane and Sing's positions to keep them suppressed and from firing at the fleeing Senators. Once they were all clear, Skywalker spoke again. "Give it up Bane!" Coruscant Guard Troopers began filing in.

Jango spoke next, "Aurra, don't throw your life away. Not for this di'kut."

"You're not the man you used to be Jango! You don't get to lecture me!"

"Damn right I'm not, still no reason to throw your life away," he aimed his disruptors at the pillar she was standing behind. "It just means I'm giving you a fair warning before I shoot you." A sniper rifle clattered to the floor, just next to the pillar. Aurra Sing stepped out with her hands on her head. Several targeting lasers lined up on her chest.

"Never figured you for being a Republic attack dog, Jango," she said as four troopers walked over and cuffed her, taking her away.

Jango sighed, and said silently to himself, "They're just another client."

Fox stepped into the room, "Droid poppers on my mark." Nyles knew where he was going, the EMP would fry Bane's breathing implant's controller. "You know Bounty Hunter, you might as well surrender. I'm only going to warn you before I shoot you, or worse."

Two blasters dropped and Bane stepped out. Nyles raised his rifle, ready to drop the bastard. "He's not worth it," said Skywalker.

"He isn't, but I'd be doing the galaxy a favor," said Nyles before he finally lowered his rifle. Bane stood smug as troopers cuffed him. Nyles sighed, "Let's get out of here."

**Till next time...**


	19. Chapter 19 - Heroes on Both Sides

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 19 – Heroes on both Sides

**Approximately a month ago**

**ARC A-44 Tracyn**

"Look at the number of gurneys…" breathed Data. Tracyn could see gurneys being taken past them from gunships toward the already overtaxed medical bay. "What's with the black cross marks on the armor?"

"That's to say that they're too injured to be tended to," breathed Ven'vuul.

"Why the kriff not?" demanded Data.

"Because they're raking up supplies that could be used to save someone who can actually be saved."

"Separatist shabuir…" came Data's reply.

"Damn right ner vod," said Blitz, speaking for the first time.

"We'll get them for this," he promised.

"Oya!" called out Data.

"Come on vode, we have a briefing to attend." Tracyn swigged the last bit of tasteless freeze dried caf and popped the last bit of the ration bar into his mouth. They walked toward the makeshift Republic HQ, Tracyn took a look at the base's airfield. They were supposed to do this job under heavy air cover. While dominated by the older model LAAT/I, Tracyn could make out three MAAT/H newer model gunships as well as a couple of LAAT/b bombers.

"ARC Squad 09, you are here, now we may begin the briefing," said General Hett. "The Separatists base you see here is jeopardizing the safety of this base. You surround that base." A trooper raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Sir, why aren't we just taking this base?" asked the trooper.

"I'm sorry trooper, but I can't reveal that information at the moment. Know, however, that future Republic operations hinge on the success of your mission. You will be supported by air support, which will be designated by Commander Tracyn followed by the next ranking officer. Good luck."

All of the troopers stood up, replacing their helmets. Tracyn and squad retrieved their weapons from the armory. Tracyn picked his usual Westar M5 with an under-barrel grenade launcher, as well as his two DC-17s Hand Blasters with a revolving barrel upgrade. Data picked up a Westar M5 as well, and a single DC-17s. Blitz picked up his signature Z-6 Rotary Cannon, along with a PLEX-1 Launcher. Ven'vuul took his Verpine Shatter Rifle and his FA-3 Flechette Launcher. The squad stepped outside, joining the company of troopers attacking the base.

"Commander Tracyn, sir! Nexu Company reporting for duty!" said the lead trooper, a Captain.

"At ease, Captain. Are the walkers ready?" he asked, referring to the AT-TEs parked behind the assembled troops.

"Yes sir, we're awaiting your orders."

"Let's not keep the seppies waiting."

"Sir, yes sir! Nexu company, move out!" The assembled men moved to board their respective AT-TEs.

"Come on vode," he said as they walked toward the lead AT-TE. Tracyn stepped up the little step ladder into the AT-TE. Already seated was the Captain and his command team. The Tank Commander gave him a quick salute. He returned it and motioned for the Captain to join him and Blitz. He turned toward the Tank Commander, "Let's move."

"AT-TE 2-1, all call signs check in," said the Commander.

"2-2, checking in."

"2-3, ready to move."

"2-4, mass driver armed and ready."

The walkers continued to check in, until finally they were on their way. Tracyn could see the gunships take off as well, assuming a formation above the advancing AT-TE walkers. The walkers kept moving, in the distance, Tracyn could see what looked like Separatist Hailfire Tank droids. "Incoming!" he called out. "This is Commander Tracyn to Gunship Besh 1-1, we need those tanks dead, or we're sitting ducks!"

"Roger that, Besh flight engaging," said the pilot. On the scanners he could see the three LAAT/I move in for the kill, hitting the row of Hailfire tanks with a barrage of missiles. A series of cheers echoed in the interior of the walker.

"Advance," he ordered, grimly. The line of walkers continued advancing, now free from the barrage of the Hailfires.

"In bound AATs!" called out the Commander, "Standby, we're engaging." Tracyn could hear an audible whine as the main gun on the walker charged, then a bang as it discharged. "Confirmed kill!" called out the Tank Commander.

"AT-TE 2-4, confirmed kill on AAT!"

"We're hit! Shab, servo motor's shut down! We'll cover you boys! Keep going!"

"Distance to the seppy base?" he asked the Commander.

"Sir, we're about one klick out," suddenly the AT-TE shook.

"What the kriff was that?" he demanded as he regained his footing.

"Anti-vehicle cannon emplacements! We're not going to make it, sir!" exclaimed the Tank Commander.

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Besh 2-1, take out those cannons!" exclaimed Tracyn. Tracyn watched the flight of gunships accelerate toward the Separatist base, when suddenly there was an explosion.

"Kriff, 2-1s down! This is 2-2 taking command. Say again, 2-2 taking command!" came the panicked voice of Gunship 2-2's pilot.

"2-4's down! Kriff, that's a lot of flak!" screamed Gunship 2-3's pilot.

"We don't take out those guns and this operation is a _failure_! All gunships fall in behind me and prepare to fire, we've got to give Nexu Company the window they need!"

"Sir, we need to pull back!" called out Data.

"We can't, you heard the General," he reminded.

"They've given us a company to take a base that needs a battalion! This isn't an assault force, this mass sacrifice!"

"That sacrifice will be in vain if we do not accomplish our mission!"

"But…" started Data.

"Stand down, Lieutenant!"

"Sir…"

"Stand down!" Data fell silent, silently holding onto his rifle with a death grip. Tracyn felt bad about the decision, but those were their orders. Pulling out would result in more deaths that continuing with the operation. They had no choice now, it was the point of no return.

"2-6 is down, we're not going to make it!" called out the panicked voice of 2-3's pilot.

"This is 3-1 Heavy, shields have failed, rear stabilizer is hit! We're going to try to set her down!" Tracyn watched as the gunship spiraled out of control and smashed into the ground, its wing tearing off before it finally came to rest near the Separatist base. There were a few tense moments as the entire company and its air support waited for a response from the pilots. "Ugh, we're alright, wait - " the transmission was abruptly cut off by the sound of blaster fire.

"2-2 here, Separatist Proton Cannons offline! Re-adjust targets, fire on the Flak Guns!" called out 2-2's pilot. Another explosion echoed.

"2-2's down! 2-3 taking command. Commander Tracyn, we can't hold out against these flak guns!" called out the pilot of Gunship 2-3.

He turned toward the Tank Commander, "Are we in range?"

"Yes sir," came the grim response.

"This is Commander Tracyn to all gunships, fall back, repeat fall back and await orders." The walker shook as its main cannon opened fire. There was a constant report of gunfire as the Separatist guns were systematically wiped out by the rapidly advancing Republic walkers. "Reacquire targets, take out the droids around the base."

"Sir," said the Commander as the cannons continued firing. "We're about two klicks out sir" he informed.

Tracyn nodded and turned toward the troops sitting in the rear of the AT-TE, "Check your gear and check your supplies, there's no turning back. It's time to lock and load."

"You heard the Commander, Nexu Company, let's show these Seppies what we're made of!" called out the Captain in charge. Soon the doors opened with a hiss and the troopers stormed out with the AT-TEs providing heavy covering fire. Tracyn and squad led the company of troopers into a position that surrounded the base while troopers died left and right from explosives and blaster fire that streamed out from gun ports on the base, until they were silenced by the AT-TEs.

"General Hett, this is Commander Tracyn. We're in position around the base, sir!" he said into his COM unit as they covered behind a downed droid AAT tank. By the time they had the base surrounded and repressed they had already lost another walker and three squads.

"Excellent job Commander, hold position," came the reply.

"But sir, we've taken heavy losses!"

"Know that the sacrifice of your men matters," said the Jedi with a sigh.

"We deserve to know what we're dying for, sir!"

There was a sigh on the other end, "Yes, you do. Is this line secure?"

He turned to Data who nodded, "Yes sir, it is now."

"Look, the Commander of this base, his wife is a Separatist Senator, who is pushing for a peace plan. But that doesn't change the fact that his troops are threatening our base. That's why we needed you to make sure that his base is out of commission, but he stays alive."

Shab, why me? After so many men had been lost in this single assault! What was the meaning of all of this? Some di'kutla peace treaty that may not even work? "Yes sir, I understand. But we can take the base. No casualties, just POWs."

"Commander…"

"We're losing men out here sir," Data caught his attention, "one moment sir."

"Commander, we've got additional droid forces inbound. ETA one standard hour. General Kenobi can arrive here to reinforce us in an hour and ten."

"Shab, that's not good. General, we've got droid reinforcements inbound, we're sitting ducks out here."

"Take the base, but remember, we need that Commander alive."

"Sir, consider it done."

"Remember Tracyn, if this doesn't work, you won't have to answer to me. You'll have to answer to the Senate."

"I understand sir," he said as he turned toward his squad and the Captain of Nexu Company. "Prepare to advance and breach, leapfrog."

The Captain turned toward him, "Finally, some sensible orders! Nexu Company, forward!" Ven'vuul took up position with the rest of the command team snipers as Tracyn , Data and Blitz moved out of cover, heading straight for the entrance. Like he expected, the blast doors to the base were locked.

"Data, get that door open! Second squad, move out!" Tracyn watched as the second squad moved under the cover of the third. Before long, the Republic troops had taken up position around the door which was creaking open, thanks to Data. The door opened and a barrage of blaster fire dropped the squad of battle droids waiting behind. Tracyn waved two squads in as he and his squad took point. "I want the vehicle bay, armory, barracks and every other location cleared. We'll take the command center."

"Sir!" said the Captain as he directed squads to those locations.

Tracyn and team walked forward, silently, until they reached the door to the command center. "Get this door open, Data."

"In a minute or your credits back," he said.

"Heh, good thing we don't get paid, we have no credits to give this di'kut," joked Ven'vuul.

"Click, click, click," said Data as the door lock beeped. The squad moved into position as Data prepared to open the door. Tracyn counted down from three on his hand. The Commandos moved on his signal, opening the door and slotting the Super Battledroid guards present.

"Hands on your head, now!" bellowed Tracyn as he pointed his gun at the six man command team. Tracyn was able to pick out the base commander easily. The commander placed his hands on his head. Blitz hefted his Z-6 Rotary cannon, pointing it at each and every one of them. "Contrary to what you think, you're worth more to us alive than dead."

"I have no intention of throwing my life away, I have a wife and son to get back home to," said the Commander.

"I don't trust these Clones, I don't want to be taken back to the Republic alive! I've heard what their Agents do to captives!" exclaimed one of the other officers.

"And we've seen what your 'agents' do to our men," replied Blitz venomously.

"Udesii, let's not make any hasty decisions," said Tracyn.

"Your Republic should have thought about that a long time ago!" said one of the officers as he raised a blaster, the entire command staff began reaching into their uniform jackets. Even the base commander did. Don't kriffing do it, don't you do it! Tracyn had no choice. He had lost enough men today, enough souls were on his conscious. His rifle went up and he could feel his weapon discharge a two round burst. Before he could even blink, all six Separatists crumpled to the floor, dead.

"Check the bodies," he ordered, without taking his eyes off the dead commander.

Ven'vuul took something off the commander, a holoframe. This one contained the picture of a smiling teenage boy and a woman. He hadn't been reaching for a blaster, he had wanted to keep his family close in his last few moments. Shab, what had he done?

What happened next was just as he expected. A particular Senator from Naboo had contacted him specifically, berating him and the rest of the Alpha ARCs, calling them a mistake. She wasn't here, she hadn't watch men die for nothing, She didn't have their deaths on her conscious. How dare she? She was criticizing him from her comfortable office, not from the front lines. Whatever it was, Tracyn paid her no mind, after all, every time he ran over that situation in his mind…he saw no way out of it.

**General Jango Fett**

"You suggest more men? I recommend all of you take your head out of your shebs and think for a moment. These are not droids, these are highly trained soldiers, but when you give them osik to work with , you wonder why losses are high?" he said. The Senate was in uproar over his comment.

"General Fett, you will not forget that this is the _Republic's_army!" declared a Senator.

"No di'kut, you just finance us and we fight for you," he reminded him.

"Perhaps on that thought alone, we need more clones!" said another.

"Good luck training them. When I black list a client, no one is going go against that. The upgraded equipment has been proven to work, and efficiently at that. As I've said before this isn't about quantity, this is about quality."

"Are you listening to yourself? More money, more clones, better ways to wage war? What about negotiation?" demanded Senator Amidala. That woman really infuriated Jango. Did she understand who she was dealing with? Dooku was a darjetii, there was no negotiating with his kind. There was only threatening. Even then, you had better have the better cards.

"You can't negotiate with those animals!" exclaimed another Senator.

"Members of the Senate, I suggest we table any emergency bill until we determine whether or not, deregulation is the right course of action," said Senator Bail Organa.

"Very well, we will table this agenda until calmer heads prevail," declared Mas Amedda.

**Agent Helena Deviss**

Agent Deviss made her way through the Senate building, armed with only her dual signature Westar Disruptors. She had made a point to fit them with sound and flash suppressors, she didn't care if people saw the bolt, just cared if they saw its point of origin. She walked quickly, ignoring looks she got from both Senators and their aides. She walked over to the door and looked around before pulling her sidearm free of its holster discretely and hitting the door release switch.

She threw herself into the room raising her pistol as she did, but all she saw was Ahsoka Tano and Senator Amidala speaking to each other, "Senator?" she asked confused.

"Ah, Agent Deviss, come in."

"What's with the blaster?" asked Ahsoka.

"Disruptor," she corrected as she holstered her weapon. "I was told that you needed my help with a sensitive issue."

"I did. As I was asking Ahsoka, you both have clearance to operate on a neutral planet, correct?"

"Technically yes," she admitted.

"Such as, say, Mandalore? Where we could take a commercial transport to a Separatist controlled world, such as Raxus?"

Raxus was the home of the Separatist Council, to say that it was heavily defended was a joke "Pardon my Kuati, but why the kriff would you want to go there?"

"This war has been going on far too long, Helena," she said looking out the window. "We both know that all too well."

"So you want to try and broker a peace treaty, but you need to get to Raxus to do, _which_ you technically cannot?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes," came the short and blunt reply.

"Master Skywalker did say you should teach me about politics," said Ahsoka.

She sighed, "Someone has to come and make sure that the two of you stay alive."

"You know, you too have more in common than you think. It's no wonder you get along so well."

The Senator became pale for a moment, "Uh, of course." Hmm, maybe Ahsoka _was_ onto something. That was something that she was definitely going to look out for in the future.

Soon their transport came in for a descent at one of the civilian docking ports on Raxus. Senator Amidala and Ahsoka were wearing heavy cloaks over their regular outfits. There would indeed be large number of droids that would have their faces in their databases. She however, was a ghost, but it still limited her to gear that would pass for civilian clothing. She was wearing a blast resistant vest under a civilian jacket, her disruptors were in a case she was carrying. The case avoided detection by emitting a frequency that spoofed scanners into accepting its contents as valid.

They got off the transport, narrowly avoiding being asked for ID by a droid as another woman walked up to the droid and asked it for the location of platform B. They walked up toward who was presumably Senator Mina Bonterri, who walked over to the Senator. "Hello old friend," she said with a jovial smile on her face.

"Ahsoka, Helena, this is Mina Bonterri. She was my mentor when I was growing up on Naboo."

"You're, a Separatist?" asked a shocked Ahsoka.

"Well of course my dear, what were you expecting?" she asked as she turned, "Now come, I have a transport waiting." The shuttle arrived at large mansion with a private landing pad. Being a Separatist Senator certainly paid well. They stepped off the shuttle and the fresh country air blew into her face. She took a quick, deep breath but returned to her former state of alertness. They were well behind enemy lines, and they were most definitely not in a secure position, Friends could very easily become enemies.

"Lux, come down here and help our guests with their luggage please?" the Senator asked a teenage boy leaning on one of the pillars. The boy walked down in a disinterested manner, which by the look on Ahsoka's face, didn't impress her.

"Some place, huh Ahsoka?" she asked. She had seen county manors like this on Alderaan, but she never thought she would set foot in one.

"Yeah, it's pretty big," she said, giving it a look over.

Lux walked toward them, "May I…" he started. She cut him off with a glare "Or perhaps not." He turned toward Ahsoka.

"I can handle it," she said, giving him a glare. They were led into the house and upstairs. There she could see an array of opulently decorated rooms. To Helena, the hall way was good enough to be slept in.

"I know that you're only staying a day my dear, but I still had some rooms prepared," she said with a smile. There was nothing unnerving about the smile, it was genuine. But yet there were only two rooms, one for Ahsoka and her, and another for Padme. Yet Helena was quite sure that if they wanted to kill Padme, they would have been waiting for her at the docks with enough droids to kill a battalion of Clone Troopers. Which, given Battledroid – Clone Trooper kill ratios, was a lot. "Please show Padme's friends to their room," said Senator Bonterri. Ironically enough, Ahsoka in the least was Padme's friend, while she considered herself a close acquaintance.

"Of course ma'am," said the same servant that had met them at the landing bay. "Follow me," she said cheerfully. She and Ahsoka shared a look before they followed the servant. They stepped into a living room of sorts, "So here is your living room, complete with Holonet connection. We don't get any Republic frequencies here, never managed to finish Citizen of Interest," she finished with a sigh. They stepped into the bedroom, "Here we are, the bedroom. Complete with two queen sized beds, for two queens," she said, laughing.

Both she and Ahsoka gave her a look. "I'm sorry, we don't get many interesting guests around here," she said. She looked at Ahsoka "I mean, for obvious reasons we don't get any Jedi around here."

"You seem awfully cheery around us," said Ahsoka.

"Well that's because I don't care for this war," she said, face down cast.

"You mean you don't hate us?"

"You seem like very nice people," she said, a smile returning to her face.

"That depends, you get on Haley's bad side and…" said Ahsoka, pointing at her.

"Haley?" she asked looking at her.

"Helena," she corrected. "Helena Ryvens." Ahsoka gave her a quick, but unnoticed look. It was the name of the cover identity she was using in any case.

"You remind of Raina Raw, Helena."

"Who?" asked Ahsoka.

"You know, from Citizen of Interest? That vid about a man who invents a droid that can predict crimes? Your friend Helena reminds me of Raina Raw. Super enigmatic, deadly intelligence agent!" she turned toward Helena, "Not that I'm saying you work intelligence, I mean, you could be from Treasury!" she paused, "Do you work intelligence?"

Helena chuckled, "I'm just here to make sure that Senator Amidala makes it back to Republic space alive." She nodded.

"Well, it was lovely meeting the both of you, but I will leave you to freshen up," she said stepping out of the room backward. "My name is Lira, in case you need something, my details are in the drawer in the nightstand." With that, she was gone.

"Maybe I should call you Raina instead," said Ahsoka.

"Not a word," she said. "Besides, the actor that played Raina is pregnant and now they're dragging it out until she can return to acting."

"So you watched this vid?" asked Ahsoka.

"Hey, I like doing normal things too…" she said, sounding slightly offended.

"Well, we both don't exactly lead normal lives…"

"Are you kidding me? I _love_ my job!" she said as she unlocked her case and retrieved her disruptors, and her holster. She secured the holster belt around her waist and then securing the straps around her thighs and dropping both weapons in.

"Well that's true, it certainly feels better knowing we're making a difference," said Ahsoka, attaching her lightsabers onto her belt.

There was a knock on their door, "Ahsoka? Helena? Are the two of you ready?" asked Padme.

"We are!" called Ahsoka as the both of them walked out of the room, joining Padme. They walked downstairs where Senator Bonterri was waiting for them.

"Ah, can I offer any of you a drink?" she asked.

"Yes please Mina," said Padme.

Senator Bonterri looked at Ahsoka and her, "What about you?" Senator Bonterri asked her.

"I don't drink on duty ma'am," she said with a smile.

Padme smiled, "You're not _on _duty Helena…"

"All the same, I'd like to keep my wits about me in case we were followed," she said with a polite smile.

Senator Bonterri poured out a drink for her and Padme.

"He's grown so much," Padme said, referring to 'Lux'.

"Time won't stop, even if we are at war," observed Senator Bonterri. "And I'm afraid these events have shaken his young life." She said as she handed Padme a drink.

"With all due respect," started Ahsoka. Oh dear, she thought. That phrase always preceded a terrible question. "As a Separatist, didn't you create this war?"

"Ahsoka!" reprimanded Padme.

"It's alright," she said to Padme, before turning toward Ahsoka. "It's a polarized point of view my dear. Won't it surprise you to know that many of the people you call Separatists feel the same way about the Republic, and the Jedi? Lux's father in fact." Even if she wasn't aware of that particular operation, the Senator's tone gave everything away. Commander Bonterri was long dead.

"Maybe I…" started Ahsoka.

"Don't, don't go there," said Helena, speaking for the first time. She knew where Ahsoka was going with this.

Senator Bonterri looked at her a moment before turning away. "A year ago next week, he was setting up a base on Aargonar when clones attacked. My husband fought bravely in self-defense, but was killed."

Helena knew the truth behind the operation, and how dare the clones be treated like scum for attacking a perfectly valid target. "While your husband may have died Senator, many Republic Soldiers died that day. Like your husband, they too fought bravely, despite no promise of another life."

"Perhaps you are right," sighed the Senator.

"There _is _something you should know, Senator."

"And what might that be?" she asked.

"Your husband surrendered to badly wounded, and beleaguered Republic Forces that finally took the base after heavy casualties. It was then that one of his officers pulled a blaster on one of the troopers there. Your husband was caught in the ensuing crossfire."

"And why would I believe this?"

"Because I handled the psych evaluation for the trooper who led the assault, Commander Tracyn. He begged for that to be put on official record, refused to let the galaxy believe that a man with more to live for than he would throw away his life like that. "

"I…I don't understand."

"That's the difference, droids kill our men with no bear on their mental health. Our men have to live with what they do, and yet, they get the amount of flak that they do. For what? Voluntarily signing up?" she paused for a moment. "Since we were clearing up misconceptions…" she said as she stepped out the door as well.

She looked out and saw Ahsoka and that boy Lux conversing…huh, that _was _quick. Oh well, young love. Not that she was assuming things, their manner of conversation seemed awfully forward. Good for Ahsoka, she needed to meet someone who cared about her.

She leaned on the wall, watching the two before she found a table with two chairs beside her. The sun was out, and it had a nicer glow to it than on Coruscant. Well, she wasn't one to waste an opportunity. She slipped off her jacket and placed it on the chair she was sitting on, before kicking her feet up onto the table and leaning back.

She let her skin soak up some sun, some real sun. Not artificially controlled nonsense that made up the weather patterns on Coruscant. Even as she reclined in the chair, she still had one hand on her holster. "Do you want me to get you a lemonade?" asked Lira, taking her by surprise.

"Where did you pop up from?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of the horizon.

"Senator Bonterri sent me to tell the two of you that supper will be served soon," she said.

"It's a little early for that, isn't it? Admit it, you don't trust me," she said with a smile as she took her legs off the table.

"You were a little too much like Raina for my comfort, I came to see what you were doing…" she said.

"Relax Lira, if I was here to kill Senator Bonterri, you and I would have never met. I would have been in and out," she said, strangely enough, she knew it would serve to reassure Lira.

"And for some reason that makes sense, I guess you're right," she said.

"Just because I fight for the Republic, doesn't mean that I want to shoot every Separatist in sight," informed Helena.

"I'm sorry Helena," she said with a sheepish smile.

Helena nodded, "I think I might take you up on that lemonade."

The next day, Senator Bonterri had taken Ahsoka, Padme and her to the Separatist Parliament to watch the fruits of their labor. Right now they were on their way to the Parliament in Mina Bonterri's shuttle. "Ah, there it is!" said Bonterri as they neared the large building. It certainly almost rivaled the Galactic Senate building on Coruscant. "It's…impressive!" said Ahsoka.

"Isn't it?" asked Bonterri. "It certainly _looks _better than the senate building!" Amidala smiled at her friend's comment. The shuttle set down on one of the landing pads. "Alright now, follow closely you three," she said as she stepped out of the shuttle.

"If it's all the same, I think I will stay on the shuttle," she said.

"Oh, why so my dear?" asked Bonterri.

"Politics bore me, and when I get bored I usually start shooting," she said.

"Perhaps it's best if you stayed here then," said Padme.

"Alright, now that that is settled, shall we?" asked Senator Bonterri. Helena waited until they were long gone before she made her way toward the building. Her target was simple, the high level access terminals deep within the building. The bad news was that there would be both wet and droid guards in the building, and even she could only _guess_ at what they had guarding the interior of the building.

Helena made her way to the entrance. The scanners at the entrance would be thrown off by the jammers that she was wearing as a simple bracelet. Her wrist was warmed as the bracelet power supply warmed as it attempted to keep up with the output required. She continued past the droid guards at the front and walked toward the elevator that would take you to the upper levels of the Senate Hall, and also some of the offices.

It was fortunate for her that there was a reasonably large sized group in the elevator. She played her part perfectly, smiling at people and pretending to be some self-obsessed trophy wife. Right as the doors opened, she was out and made her way toward the offices. Ironically enough the guards were too busy watching those entering the Senate itself.

As soon as she got to a terminal she contacted Jaing, "Jaing, I'm in."

"Excellent," came the voice on the other end. "To install my little backdoor, you're going to have to do a couple things."

"What's that?" she asked.

"List's coming your way," said Jaing.

Looking at her datapad Helena frowned at the lengthy list. "Oh come on!" she complained.

"If it were _that _easy, I'd have done it myself," said a slightly irritated Jaing.

"Damn it Jaing, hold on," she said as she began executing commands to make every access attempt by the Republic look like anything from a maintenance check to an inquiry, depending on the data accessed.

"Alright Agent Deviss. Mandokarla," said Jaing, impressed.

"Mando what now?" she asked, annoyed. "Listen here you punk…" she started.

"Hey, focus. I noticed a new shipment of BX-series Commando Droids is ready to leave the planet. It's a shame if a certain Republic Agent were to reprogram them and stow aboard the transport," he said with faux pity.

"Yeah, yeah…" she said as she tapped in the necessary commands. "Alright, that's 10 minutes." She had redirected the transport to head toward utility docks of the building.

"The command has been sent to the central mainframe, but it can still be cancelled by this terminal. I don't suppose you're going to sit here and wait?" asked Jaing.

Helena looked around the room, hmm, if she could use the proximity scanner for the lights, she could overload the power supply for the terminal. "Jaing?"

"Yes?"

"The terminal doesn't have to be in one piece while this process takes place, right?" she asked.

"No…oh, there's an idea!" he said with sudden realization.

Helena pulled out her concealed pistol and put three rounds into the terminal, "Done."

"But that might have tripped the silent alarm," he added.

"Jaing, I swear…" she started.

"Get your shebs out of there first, plot my demise later," he said.

She made her way out of the office quickly heading toward the elevator, hands on her holsters. She saw two guards heading in her direction. "Stop right there!" said one as he reached into his jacket for his blaster. Helena fired and dropped both guards.

A bolt hit her in the back, but her blast resistant vest took it. She dropped down and spun around, firing at the three guards behind her. She looked up and saw the windows. There was no way she was going to leave the way she came. She opened fire on the window, breaking the glass. She saw more guards coming and after firing a couple of shots in their direction, she made a break for it. Landing on the maintenance causeway, she ran along it until she found the ladder. She rode the ladder all the way to the bottom.

When she hit the bottom, she turned quickly, heading toward the utility docks. She could see several Battledroids running past as she kept moving. She continued on her way, sticking to the shadows near the side of the building itself. She reached a maintenance hut, and she stepped inside. "Hey, you're not supposed to…" started one of the workers. She dropped him with a single bolt to the chest. She looked through the lockers that he was standing in front of. Quickly donning a pair of overalls from a locker, she headed out. She quickly looked at the name on her overall, Darvo Pail. That was going to be hard to pass as.

She saw the transport coming in for a landing. She made her way toward the transport, that for some reason the Battledroid guards on duty completely ignored. She made her way toward the extended landing ramp that had three waiting Commando Droids on it. Whatever organic crew were on board were long dead the moment the droids were reprogrammed. The Battledroid on duty stopped her, "Halt." It looked at her for a moment and then gestured for her to get on board. "Go ahead Miss Darvo Pail." She nodded and got aboard, stupid droids.

The reprogrammed droids turned toward her, "Do you want us to exterminate the Separatist scum, ma'am?"

"No," she said as she passed them "let's get out of here."

"Roger, roger," replied the droid.

**General Jango Fett**

"We need a bank loan to get more troops, now!" screamed a Senator.

"I believe General Fett's proposition to be far better," said another.

"Aye!" called out a third.

"What are we waiting for?" demanded a third.

"I'm afraid we've been given no choice, to ensure the safety of the Republic, we must deregulate the banks!" said Chancellor Palpatine. Jango, frankly did not care as long as he was paid. And if the Republic couldn't pay him at the end of this long shabla war, then he would take his pay.

**Agent Helena Deviss**

"I'm returning your Padawan," said a disappointed Padme.

"I'm sorry your talks with Bonterri failed," said Skywalker. She felt bad for what she did, but she had no choice. That was why she agreed to go in the first place.

"Helena…why?" breathed Ahsoka.

"Because it's her job! She was doing what she was supposed to be doing! That was dangerous and careless going to Raxus."

"So you came along only to spy on us?" demanded Padme.

She looked at the floor and sighed, "There was a reason I was armed too, and had a COMLINK to Intelligence HQ."

"You went too far this time!" said Skywalker.

"You would do the same. You _do_ the same all the time," countered Ahsoka.

"Maybe so, but this, was too much."

"I did realize something, the politics of this war, are not as black and white as I once thought they were."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"This unit is awaiting your orders," said the Commando Droid in front of him. It had been modified with better armor, COM systems and the programming had been cleaned up. It was carrying a PX-15s plasma carbine.

"Have your units begin a patrol of this ship, remember it's your job to keep us alive," he replied.

"Roger that," it replied. He had changed it's speech matrix to be more intelligible, as well as giving each unit more independent thought. Such as giving the choice for each of them to have their own designation, or name.

"What is your designation?" he asked.

"This unit's designation is CABAL, I will serve the Republic and her allies to the day of my destruction."

**Till next time…**


	20. Chapter 20 - The Citadel

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 20 – The Citadel

**Nyles Kote**

It was slightly unnerving standing in front of a Commando Droid like that. The last time he had been this close to one, it had been pointing an E-5 Blaster Rifle in his face. But this droid was different, everything about it was. From the reinforced durasteel plating, the Republic weapons in its hand, its name… "Admiral Kote, I am sensing anxiety in your body language," he…it, told him.

"I have a mission for you CABAL, such is the reason you and five other units are being taken off patrol duty," he informed.

"This unit's primary purpose is the defense of this ship," it said.

"Your mission will ensure the safety of the Republic," he said. He noticed that an astromech and another person were walking toward him.

"Nyles, this the droid? It looks…different," said Jedi General Anakin Skywalker.

CABAL looked toward him, "Greetings General Skywalker."

"Huh, that's an interesting feature. Do I have you to thank?" he asked.

"That's Data's doing," he said. Anakin nodded. Nyles pointed to R2, "CABAL, that's R2. The two of you are going to be working together for the next mission."

CABAL looked down at the shorter astromech, almost unsure, "If this unit may inquire, what is the mission Admiral Kote?"

"All will be revealed in good time, why don't you gather a team and join R2 and his men." CABAL saluted and left with R2.

As the two of them watched the two droids leave, Anakin turned to him, "You sure that CABAL isn't just going to end up shooting something?"

"Oh it'll shoot something, but it'll be droids," he said with a confident smirk.

**CABAL**

CABAL passively observed the five other BX-R units in front of him. He had made sure that they were packing the best weapons that the Republic offered to them and that they were equipped to deal with any threat, as per efficient planning protocols. One Sniper armed with a long range disruptor, two close-range specialists with FA-3 Flechette Launchers and two Riflemen with PX-15s Plasma Carbines.

The other droids were sitting secured in seats in the cargo bay, waiting for their part in the mission. CABAL in the meanwhile searched Republic databases for information on the men he would be serving with. What he saw was proof that he would be serving with the Republic's best. The ship he was serving on had some of the highest kill counts in the Republic Navy. He would be honored to defend its crew with his life. CABAL learned that the Admiral and his men were victim of a boarding action earlier, CABAL vowed that this would never happen again. He refocused his attention on the mission plan and schematics of the prison complex.

Quickly CABAL formulated a plan to take the central landing pad. He turned to him men, displaying a map. "The central landing pad is the only possible landing zone and extraction point."

"Affirmative."

CABAL turned to his Sniper, "You will take up position here," he said pointing to a location on the map.

"Roger." **A/N: Improved speech matrix, so no Roger, roger.**

He pointed at the two turrets, and looked at his CQC specialists "You two will take these gun emplacements."

"Roger."

He turned toward his riflemen, "You two are with me, we will remove any resistance on the pad."

"Roger," came the reply.

"For the Republic," he said.

"For the Republic," they agreed.

**Commander Sharp N-9**

Sharp looked around, GAR Special Operations Command had really pulled all stops for this operation. If he was their position, he would as well. Breaking into the Citadel Prison wasn't going to be an easy job. Looking around the little room in the Jedi Temple, he could see Jaing, Prudii, Mereel, Glaive, Scythe, Fives, Hevy, Echo, Alpha and his own squad . That was 14 men, 8 Null-ARCs, 4 Alpha-ARCs and two Assassins. All of them had studied the limited schematics the council had given them.

They saw the three Jedi walking into the room, "Gentlemen, thank you for coming," said General Koon. Like they had a choice, they had a job to do.

General Kenobi nodded in Alpha's direction, "Alpha, good to see you."

"Just like old times, eh Kenobi?" asked Alpha.

General Kenobi nodded, "Last time we were breaking _out_ of a prison, Alpha."

Anakin nodded, "And this time I'll be right by both your sides."

"Makes me so much more comfortable," replied Alpha, sarcasm dripping.

"Now that we've all reacquainted ourselves, I assume you've all studied the schematics?" asked General Koon.

He nodded, "That would be correct General."

"And we know he's alive, Seppies won't dare kill him before he spills what he knows," added Jaing.

"Based on Archive schematics, we've narrowed it down to three possible locations they're holding him," said General Koon.

"My greatest concern is infiltrating their outer security," added General Kenobi. "The life form scanners will not be easy to fool."

"I've got a thought about that," said Skywalker. That was one of the few things that Sharp was afraid of hearing, that General Skywalker had a thought about something. They usually involved elaborate risky plans.

Just then, Commander Tano jogged into the room. "Master, sorry I'm late. I just heard about the briefing. We're going to rescue Master Piell, right?"

They all looked at each other before General Koon spoke what was on all their minds, "You two have much to discuss," he said as they left the room. The conversation was strangely abrupt for their standards, he had barely left the room when he saw Skywalker leave. He sighed and turned around. "There's a reason Rex and Cody aren't coming on this one," he said to Ahsoka.

"I know there's a reason," she said. "But…"

Sharp cut her off, "If I had it my way, we wouldn't be sending any Jedi on this Op at all, unfortunately not even General Fett could get your Master and his former Master to stand down." She smiled, but was still not convinced.

**CABAL**

"R2, look out, behind you! You're being followed by Battle Droids! Oh and Commando Droids!" said the gold covered protocol droid in front of him. R2, informed the other unit that the Battledroids were his troops, and the Commando Units were his.

"These are your troops? They're Battledroids!" R2 then informed him that the Battledroids had been reprogrammed to follow his orders.

This was not according his behavioral parameters, he would not allow this protocol droid to continue his diminishing of his units intelligence. "Unit C3P0, this unit will ensure that your companion is returned to you in perfect operating condition."

"Oh, this one seems smarter," said the protocol unit, sarcastically.

CABAL ignored the unit in front of him and took up position around the shuttle.

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"I don't trust those droids," said Fives, "Any of them."

"Relax, CABAL will shoot any of them if they try something," said Data, sitting on one of the crates with his feet up on another.

"It has a name?" asked Fives.

"Of course it does, they're all programmed to perform as individual units, but they have teamwork routines and so they develop their own personalities based on what their programmed function is. CABAL's is to manage droid security throughout the entire ship. So he kinda behaves like their leader," said Data, looking back at his datapad.

Fives shook his head. Sharp had to agree, he was concerned, but not enough to doubt Nyles. "Come on vode, let's get this over with."

He turned and saw Flare walking in with a crate of produce, "Worried you might get hungry vod?" asked Data. Fives, Heavy and Echo chuckled.

"If we're going to pass as a shuttle that's delivering food supplies, we'll have to actually _bring_ some food supplies," replied Flare.

"How do you know what the Seppies eat?" asked Data.

"Cause I have a brain, di'kut," replied the annoyed heavy weapons specialist, walking toward the carbon freezing chamber. They moved toward the chamber and as they looked inside.

Deadeye sighed, "I hope that stuff doesn't screw with my sensors, I just calibrated them."

"If this doesn't work, you'll have to worry about a lot less than your sensors," reminded Jaing.

General Kenobi joined them, "This is your plan? Carbon Freezing?"

"Hey, you wanted me to get us past the droid sensors," protested General Skywalker.

"Are we sure this thing is safe?" asked Echo. "I don't want to end up a wall decoration."

"Try to relax," said General Kenobi. "We'll be unfrozen as soon as we arrive."

Sharp looked around unsure for a moment as everyone assumed their positions to be frozen. Oh well, you only live once, and not for very long in his case.

**CABAL**

CABAL watched both the frozen food supplied and the frozen strike team being loaded onto the shuttle. Once they were loaded he turned toward the Jedi General next to him, "Loading is complete General." He nodded, signaling him to begin the departure process. CABAL and his unit stepped onto the shuttle with the R2 unit and his. The shuttle lifted off, CABAL turned to the R2 unit. "My unit is ready to provide assistance." The droid informed him that he should wait in the cargo bay with the frozen food and strike team.

The ship entered Hyperspace and precisely four standard hours as per mission clock exited over the planet of Lola Sayu. CABAL walked into the cockpit. The pilot unit turned toward the R2 unit, "Citadel Command has contacted us."

"This is Citadel Command, please identify yourself," the voice of the Tactical droid filtered through his sound receptors.

"This is shuttle 81752, requesting access to the Citadel Prison," replied the Pilot unit.

"What is your cargo?" came the voice again.

"Cargo is Frozen Rations," CABAL added quickly.

"Do not deviate from your current course."

The pilot droid turned around, "They're scanning us for life forms."

"I don't think this is working," said the pilot.

"Quiet, you're gonna blow it," replied another unit.

"The Jedi plan is guaranteed with 98% success to get us past the fleet defenses," CABAL replied.

"That's reassuring!" replied the pilot.

"Scan complete, you may proceed," replied the Tactical Droid.

"Set down at the decided location, then make ready to divert to the prison," CABAL added. He walked back toward the cargo bay. A standard hour later, the shuttle landed. CABAL and unit got to deactivating the carbon freeze units. CABAL ensured that the Clones were defrosted first, as instructed by Admiral Kote.

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"Commander, are you experiencing any stiffness, weakness…" said the droid in front of him.

"I'm fine droid."

"CABAL."

"What?" he asked as placed his helmet back onto his head, the volcanic ash in the air irritating his throat.

"My designation is CABAL," it said.

"You have a name?" he asked, confused.

The droid handed him his rifle, "This is your weapon, correct?"

"Yes," he answered, checking the rifle. He walked over to the crate where he stowed his equipment when the droid handed him his bandolier in one hand while the other held his med kit.

"The Admiral is a good man," the droid added as it handed him his med kit after he secured his bandolier. "His decision to wake you and your men first was tactically sound. He is your friend is he not," asked the droid.

"Friend, what do you know about friendship?" he asked.

The droid seemingly ignored him, "What is a name?"

"What we call one another," he said.

"So you are correct, I have a name," it said.

"You understand that we're apprehensive about you, because we have fought so many of your kind."

"This unit understands any apprehension its comrades may have, but it would like to interject that we are unlike our brothers, we are willing to fight and face destruction for the Republic."

"That's…good. Wake the others now CABAL," he said.

"Affirmative."

"Oh and CABAL?"

"Yes Commander?"

"You mind speaking less disjointedly? It would make working with you a little less uncomfortable," he said as he activated his shield generator.

CABAL nodded, "That can be arranged. What is the pronoun that I should use?"

"Masculine."

"Gender does not usually apply, thank you for your input Commander," replied CABAL.

"Don't worry about it CABAL, I couldn't go around calling you droid forever," he said.

One by one they were thawed and Sharp was about to deactivate the carbon slabs containing Skywalker and Kenobi when Hevy called out, getting their attention "We have a stowaway!" They rushed to his position to find a frozen Ahsoka.

"Tano," he breathed.

"How did she get on board?" demanded Alpha.

"How did she get frozen is a better question," scoffed Jaing. Suddenly the slab started thawing. "No!" exclaimed Jaing, looking at the Battledroid standing next to the slab.

"Whoops," it said, looking at the infuriated Clones.

CABAL took a step forward toward the droid, "Explain."

"I thought we we're supposed to thaw all the Jedi," it said.

"Inferior junk," said CABAL as he stepped away.

Data looked from the Battledroid to CABAL, "Wow, I didn't know he could do that! You have a talk with him Commander?" asked Data, turning toward him.

Sharp looked away, "Come on, let's wake the Generals."

Commander Tano in the meanwhile stepped off her slab, "Hey guys, what'd I miss?"

Jaing turned to her, "Maybe it's more on the lines of what'd we miss. I thought you weren't authorized to be on this mission."

"I must have carbon sickness because I could swear that's Ahsoka," said a weary General Kenobi.

"Your eyes are fine," said General Skywalker. "It's Ahsoka's _hearing_ that needs help."

"You're telling me," scoffed Jaing. Prudii shook his head as he, Glaive and Scythe checked their rifles.

"I received orders to join the team, I thought you knew," said Ahsoka.

"Orders? From who?" asked General Skywalker.

"I discussed it with Master Plo," she argued.

"He didn't tell me," protested Skywalker.

"You were already in carbonite," she reasoned.

"Well I gave you a _specific_ order not to come," he said, pointing a finger at Ahsoka.

"If there's one thing I've learned from you Master, it's that following direct orders isn't always the best way to solve a problem," she said.

"I see Anakin's new teaching method is to do as I say, not as I do," said General Kenobi walking over. "Welcome aboard."

As they headed off CABAL, R2 and the other droids flew the shuttle to the prison to deliver the supplies as to avoid suspicion. As they approached the prison, he could see the entry point through his Macrobinoculars. Wind speed was high, meaning that their decision to leave their jetpacks behind at the landing site was a good one. "We doing this with ascension cables?" he asked.

"Negative sir, look, electro mines," said Deadeye.

"Well that rules out ascension cables," he said with an annoyed sigh.

"What about the Cato Nemoidia bridge?" asked Glaive.

"The what?" asked a confused Kenobi.

"One of us will scale the wall, then fire their ascension cables down at the others, while someone down here fires their cable back up at the oncoming cable. The two cables will connect and we can pull the other person up," answered Glaive.

"With all that wind?" asked Alpha.

"Hmm, good point," said Glaive nodding.

Scythe started off toward the cliff face, "Guess we're going to have to free climb it, race you to the top!" Glaive made to correct him but didn't bother and started off toward the cliff face as well.

Sharp turned toward the rest of the ARCs, the ARC Mk II armor had jump pack thrusters inbuilt, with the option for addition of an armored jetpack. "The wind may be too much for jet packs, but we could use the jump packs and grappling hooks as pitons."

"I like the way you think," said Alpha.

"You'd be the first," teased Data.

Both Alpha and Sharp shook their heads. They headed toward the cliff face with their Jedi Generals and Commander. As the Jedi and the two Assassins started climbing, the ARCs were almost literally flying up the cliff side, deftly avoiding the electro mines. Just then the ray shielded door to the platform opened and two B2 Super Battledroids walked out, in the middle of them a Destroyer droid. As they all stopped underneath the platform, hanging from it with grappling hooks, Sharp turned toward Alpha, "Reverse polarity grenade." Alpha nodded and lobbed one onto the platform. He heard the grenade go off, and the three droids drop onto the deck with a clunk. The ray shielded door dissipated. The ARC troopers hauled themselves onto the platform, helping one another and then fanning into the hallway to make room for the Jedi and Assassins.

"That went well," said Fives, looking around.

"That was the easy part," said Prudii.

Jaing and Data were looking at their data pads, "Hmm, should be able to get the cameras on loop if I can get to a terminal. It's too risky to try this otherwise, they'd triangulate our position in seconds," said Data.

"But if he tracks the terminal, they'd drop droids on our heads even faster," added Jaing.

"We still need the cameras down," said Data, furiously tapping away at his datapad. In a minute or two he spoke again, "Done."

"We need to keep moving," informed Skywalker as Kenobi, Tano, Glaive and Scythe joined him as well.

Together they kept moving, Sharp stopped outside the cell door that according to their map was one of the possible locations that they were holding General Piell. He signaled Data to standby the door controls. Echo, Fives and Alpha moved in front of the door, while Hevy and Flare watched both ends of the corridor with their Rotary Cannons.

Sharp gave the go ahead, Data hit the switch and Alpha, Echo and Fives moved into the room, guns up. Fives and Echo dropped the two Commando Droid guards with a single shot from their DC-15A and DC-15s respectively. Alpha dropped the interrogator droid with a single shot from his Westar M5, walking over to it and putting another bolt into its head.

Skywalker walked in and slashed the force field projector system with his lightsaber, while Kenobi caught him. General Kenobi placed him on the ground leaning against the destroyed projector. "Master Piell, are you alright?"

"Obi Wan, what took you guys so long?" asked General Piell.

"At least your sense of humor is still intact," said Skywalker.

"It takes more than they got to break me, young Skywalker," replied Piell. Kenobi handed him his lightsaber, which for some reason was right next to the force field projector. The Separatists were quite inept in that way.

"You got the coordinates for the Nexus route?" asked Skywalker.

"I got them alright," said General Piell. "Half of them anyway. My Captain's got the other half. I erased the computers when we were boarded and had both of us memorize part of the intel. That way, if somehow I cracked, the information would be useless for them without the other half."

"Where's your Captain?" asked Kenobi.

"Being held with the other officers I assume," replied General Piell.

"We're gonna need a new plan for getting out," concluded Skywalker.

Soon they were moving through the hallways again, when they heard footsteps. Guns went up, seeing Commando droids approaching from both ends of the hallways. With this many highly trained soldiers behind accurate weapons the Commando Droids went down in a heartbeat. Sharp felt his weapon flying out of his hand and he watched it fly toward the roof and stay there. Damn, the Seppies had magnet traps in the ceiling. Looking around he saw the Jedi clutching their ears. More Commando Droids began coming in through either side of the hallways.

Jaing raised his hand and fired at the ceiling with his wrist blaster, disabling the magnets while the rest of them opened fire at the droids with plasma casters, wrist blasters and rockets. The Commando droids dropped within seconds. Sharp bent down and picked up his rifle. "That was easy," said Data. Just then an alarm started blaring.

**CABAL**

CABAL watched the shuttle land. He turned around to his men, "Get these crates unloaded." Four nods were seen and the crates were taken out of the open shuttle door, he followed his men, rifle in hand. They moved the crates on hover palettes to a waiting Battledroid team.

"These the supplies?" asked the unit in charge.

"Yes," answered CABAL.

"Great, we'll take this to the Commander!" it said. CABAL wanted to rip its vocal processor out, but that would have to wait.

Suddenly his COM unit went active, "CABAL, this is Sharp, we're on our way out. Stand by!"

"Roger that," he replied before he got on the COM to the other units, both his and R2s "Let's take this landing pad. Positions." He raised his rifle and opened fire at the droids on the landing pad, save for the lead droid whom he walked over to and picked up by the neck, snapping it in his grasp.

He took note of two heavy turrets, "Take those turrets," he ordered. His rifleman made their way to the turret, taking control and aiming at the doors. He turned to his Snipers, "Positions." Wordlessly they moved to vantage points. He got on the COM to R2, "Pad secure."

**Commander Sharp N-9**

"You just had to open your mouth," started Deadeye, picking his Verpine Shatter Rifle off of the floor.

"I suggest we move quickly," said Alpha as he took point. The rest of Alpha's men feel in, followed by his men and finally Jaing, Prudii, Glaive and Scythe. They took cover before rounding the next corner. Deadeye deployed a small recon droid, their suspicions were confirmed when it fell to the floor with a dull thunk, riddled with blaster bolts. Alpha turned to Echo and Fives, "Detonators, now." The two 'rookie' ARC Troopers rolled Thermal Detonators fast and low toward the turrets. The resulting explosion signaled that it was safe to move out.

Stepping out they moved on to the next cell block, removing its Battledroid guards with lethal efficiency. Before the droids chassis had even hit the floor Data was already on the cell door controls, ready to open it. He and Jaing took up positions on either side of the door, ready to slot the guards inside. He counted down on his fingers to Data, when he gave the signal Data hit the door release and both he and Jaing stepped inside, dropping the two guards inside. "Clear," called Jaing.

"Clear," he confirmed. The Jedi stepped into the room.

"Tarkin," said General Piell.

The officer in question stood up slowly, "General Piell."

Sharp was ignoring them, he handed a Clone Officer his sidearm "You okay, vod?"

"Yes, thanks for the rescue," came the reply. Jaing was handing the other survivor his sidearm.

"Our pleasure. Didn't want you getting too comfortable here," he joked.

The Clone gave a pained smile, "Heh, that won't be a problem."

He caught part of the Jedi's conversation, "We should split up," said Kenobi.

"Sir, if we split up now, we might as well surrender. The shuttle's waiting on the main landing pad, their cover should still work," he said. Splitting up meant halving your firepower, your numbers and meant leaving half of your men to run around a prison designed to contain Jedi under the command of Jedi. They didn't think like Jedi, they were trained to think differently.

"One group can lead them off while the other escapes," said Skywalker.

Tarkin put his hand on his chin, "I agree with the Commander. Splitting up now is suicide."

"Sir, if we both head to the shuttle, we have twice the firepower to clear the clankers. I suggest we send word to Admiral Nyles to jump in, be ready for a hot pickup," he said. "Once we board that shuttle, it's cover is blown. And if we don't board that shuttle, we're all dead, or worse."

Skywalker nodded, "You have a point."

Tano nodded, "If I may masters, I believe that this plan will result in less loss of life."

"If we're careful, all we come out of this with is a couple scratches," added Jaing.

Kenobi nodded, "I'll tell the Admiral to enact the contingency plan."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Incoming communication sir," said Blade. "It's General Kenobi."

Nyles nodded, "Didn't expect things to go to hell this quick."

"There's a reason they say no one can break into the Citadel, let alone break out," reminded Blade.

"Patch him through."

A slightly static distorted image of Obiwan appeared, "Admiral Kote, I believe things haven't exactly gone according to plan."

"I can see that, how bad?" he asked.

"We haven't lost anyone, but we're in need of a rather speedy evacuation," he replied.

"We're on our way, we'll create the biggest distraction we can so that the only opposition you'll face is from the prison's forces," said Nyles.

"Thank you, remind me to buy _everyone_ drinks after this," said Kenobi.

"Do you even get paid?" he asked.

"Well…I'll _get_everyone drinks instead," replied Obiwan.

"Get yourself out of there first. Kote out," with that Nyles cut the COM link. He turned toward Blade, "Make the jump. Warm long range weapons, Ion Cannons and Disruptors. Prepare our Missiles Launchers for a Long Range salvo. Launch all squadrons, we need to buy them all the time they need." Blade nodded, walking over to the helmsman, who activated the ship's Hyperdrive. Before long the ship exited Hyperspace flanked by the rest of Battle group Defender. Nyles could see the enemy fleet looming ahead. "Anytime now Blade," he said. Nyles watched as the activity on the bridge increased exponentially, with the Fighter Control giving orders to the waiting squadrons and deploying the Phalanx Assault Frigates and Arrow Gunboats. Fire Control was busy computing firing solutions that would ensure that the first salvo was as devastating to the enemy as possible.

And when it all took effect it was a thing of beauty. Gun turrets on all three ships turned in perfect unison, spitting long ranged death at the Separatist ships. Before the escorting Munificent frigates could open fire their shields were knocked out by a barrage of Ion Cannon fire, right as their plating was stripped away, molecule by molecule by the disruptors. Nyles nodded in satisfaction at the destruction, "Shift fire, target the Providence."

Blade suddenly turned toward him, "Incoming contacts leaving hyperspace!"

Nyles smiled, "Then we have their attention." He watched as several ships exited hyperspace, from the looks of things it was several Recusant –class Destroyers and Munificent Frigates. They were attempting to close the gap between the two lines, move in where their weapons would be most effective. "Cut them to pieces."

Blade nodded, "Sir." The long and extreme range guns turned to fire on the Separatist reinforcements. When were the Separatists going to learn that they were going to need to outnumber him a lot more than 3 to 1, and triple that for each battleship and double that number for his dreadnought.

Long range disruptors and Ion Cannons peppered the shields of the lead frigates, dropping them quickly. The Disruptors blew chunks of armor off of the frigates, the lead ships disintegrated under the weight of the firepower. But Nyles knew that they were using the Munificents to keep him from getting at the Recusants. It didn't matter, this fleet was woefully underequipped against a fleet designed to hunt and kill other capital ships, rather than provide a large amount of fighter support. Not that it wasn't competent at doing the above, and fending off fighters with its own anti-fighter guns.

Soon the Munificent screen was nothing but dust in the cosmic winds, but the Recusants were now in Medium range. They began to open fire indiscriminately. The shields on the Guardian barely even took a hit, shield strength remaining at a constant 99%. The one percent being used to charge the weapons to swat the minor annoyances that were the four Separatist Destroyers out of the way. The gun mounts turned to face the enemy ships, spitting disruptors, ion bolts and accelerated particles at them. The Separatist ships began coming apart but didn't halt their advance.

One by one the Separatist Destroyers began to disintegrate under the weight of the heavy gunfire. Blade turned around when the Separatist ships were destroyed "That was easy, a little _too_ easy."

"Get me Sharp," he said.

He nodded and the Lieutenant manning the Communications console patched him through, he could see blaster fire going everywhere "Sharp, status report."

"We've kicked up the Hornet's nest here," he said, turning and firing at a B2 Super Battledroid.

"Is the Landing Pad clear? Can you get to the shuttle?" he asked.

"CABAL reported the pad clear," he said, ducking to avoid a rocket that streaked past him.

"Then get to that pad, quick," he said. "I don't like the situation up here. It's quiet, a little too quiet."

"Roger that Nyles," said Sharp as he cut the line.

Nyles turned to Blade, "Move us in close to the planet. Reorient the ship and warm up the FATC, keep the rest of the weapons warm. Tell our squadrons to be ready to launch and get Blackout to get down there and escort that shuttle up here."

"Sir, expecting trouble?"

"Lola Sayu's gravity well may be ours, but I don't think the Separatists are ready to appreciate that," he said, looking at the ship's systems on his personal console. He looked at a recent scan of the prison, "Also launch Galaar flight, and tell them to pack their anti-structure ordinance. We're destroying that prison."

Blade smiled, "I couldn't agree more, sir." Nyles felt the rumbling in his boots as the massive ship turned and oriented toward the planet in perfect formation with the two other smaller Battleships.

**CABAL**

"CABAL, this is Sharp, we're almost at the landing pad. Prepare for contact," came the voice of Commander Sharp over CABAL's COMs.

"Roger that," said CABAL. He turned toward his men, "Prepare to open fire." Rifles were raised and turrets aimed at the door, which a moment later, opened and Troopers stepped backward out of. They were backpedalling quickly, firing at contacts his optics could not see. CABAL sent Sharp a fallback point that would afford them maximum cover without compromising fire lines.

CABAL turned toward the pilot unit, "Start the engines."

It nodded, "Roger, roger." He watched for a couple hundred cycles as the unit entered the shuttle and started the engines. The Separatist units continued to advance in a vain attempt to destroy them. Their combined firepower was allowing them to hold this position momentarily.

The turreted guns were beginning to overheat from the constant firing and droids were being allowed to pass their kill zone created by the lapse in gunfire. CABAL transmitted an order to all units under his command to throw detonators. As one, they ran toward the enemy under cover fire from the two Snipers and Commander Sharp and their Clone brethren and hurled grenades at the oncoming enemy units.

The thermal detonators blew, but more units came through the smoke. One of his riflemen took a burst of bolts meant for Echo and stood up, arm sparking. With its remaining arm the unit destroyed the offending Separatist unit. CABAL turned to Sharp, "Commander, without the turrets this position will be overrun. Fire pattern states that enemy units are shooting to wound, I estimate they are seeking to capture a number of our forces, likely to interrogate for information."

Sharp cursed, firing a grenade from the under barrel grenade launcher of his DX-16, "Shab!"

CABAL fired several bursts at approaching BX Commando Units, "That word does not register."

"It mean…never mind, what's the status on the Admiral's air support?" he asked.

Just then an explosion consumed the entrance to the prison. A voice came over their COMs "Basilisk 1-1, get your shebs into that shuttle, double time."

"I believe I know an appropriate phrase," said CABAL. Sharp turned quizzically as they bounded up the ramp. "The cavalry is here."

Sharp chuckled, "You're alright CABAL."

**Lieutenant Adtr, Kyr'galaar 1-1**

"All bombers form up on me," said Adtr as the squadron broke the atmosphere of the volcanic planet. "Primary target is the pipeline leading to the prison, we blow that sky high and taking that prison out will be easier. We don't have air support, so 4th wing, you boys are flying escort, keep any fighters off of us."

"4-1 copies lead, we've got your back," came the reply.

Adtr could see the pipeline ahead of him and entered the arming code for his high explosive guided Baradium ordinance. "Alright, this is it boys, follow my lead," he said he targeted the pipeline "Bombs away!" the ordinance dropped free of internal bay mounting and streaked toward the target. Adtr didn't stay to watch the explosion, he pulled up, turning the fighter toward their secondary target – the prison itself.

"Incoming contacts," said his gunner. "Looks like STAPs?" Single Trooper Ariel Platforms versus his bombers? Not even a minor annoyance.

"Open fire, waste them," he said. The Squadron opened fire with their heavy laser cannons, tearing the STAPs to pieces. "Execute bombing run, target the prison," he said as the prison came into view. Every bomber released their entire load of guided bombs on the prison, peeling off as they did. The immense mushrooming explosion in the background told them that their job was complete. The Citadel Prison was no more.

**I didn't like the way that they did this in the episode. Echo and Fives accuracy was beyond terrible for ARC troopers. The Jedi made dumb decisions. And instead of bringing as many special ops troopers as they could they brought the regular infantry. That was just dumb. I mean there is reason that the Commandos and ARCs were trained…Anyways, enough of my ranting. I hope you guys liked the chapter, till next time…**


	21. Chapter 21 - Predators

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 21 – Predators

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"I wanted that frigate line on the right flank destroyed, and I wanted it yesterday!"

"Aye sir!" called a crewman.

Nyles watched as both Republic Battle groups were struggling to stave off the Separatist reinforcements. Attacking the planet for the second time had been easy, initially. The Naval defenses were sparse and they fell easily. However the defenses on the ground were rough. The Republic forces were hard pressed to break the droid lines.

Air assaults met with diminishing results due to the thick foliage. Additionally, droid anti-air found it easy to shoot up at incoming bombers and gunships who had no natural terrain changes to use to their advantage. To make matters worse, heavy vehicles had limited use, again, due to the thick plant covering.

This left only infantry assaults, and the droids had a lot of bodies, or chassis rather to throw at their men. They were taking heavy losses, so whatever ground was gained was almost always a pyrrhic victory. A voice interrupted his thoughts, "Sir, we have a Victory-class reporting a hull breach!" called out Blade.

"Pull that ship back! Tell their Captain to stick to missile strikes on their frigate line. Leave the Providence to the _Gra'tua_. Where are my damn cruisers?" he asked. Referring to the shipment of four new Nebula-class Heavy Cruisers that were supposed to have been here hours ago.

"Captain said he had to divert to stop an assault on Ord Mantel!" replied Blade.

"Did he?" asked Nyles after the ship shook slightly. The TAC display told him that it was a squadron of Hyena droids that had managed to pass their overworked point defense MPACs and had managed to deliver their load of Proton Torpedoes into the side of his ship. This was in addition to the next barrage that the Separatists unleashed on his ship. "Shield Status!" he barked.

"Holding steady at 87%! Between the fleet and those damn Hyenas as well as the rate the guns are firing at, the shields aren't going to last long!" exclaimed Blade. The _Guardian _had positioned itself in front of the fleet, taking the hit for the rest of it. But even the mighty shields on the vessel could only take so much punishment, and with the power being allocated mostly to the weapons and communications systems to coordinate the various legions deployed down on the planet, it meant that the shields weren't getting much juice to recharge themselves.

"What's the charge status of the FATC?" Nyles asked. He had used the FATC to wipe out most of the first wave of Separatist reinforcements. What he really wanted to do was attack that Providence-class in the Separatist rear lines, but it was as protected as the Guardian was protecting the Republic fleet over Felucia. The TAC display showed Hyena droids attacking again. "Where are my damn fighters?" demanded Nyles.

"Sir, all squadrons are spread thin, and the load on the targeting computers is preventing our guns from acquiring entirely accurate solutions on the enemy bombers," reported Blade.

"Who do we have not on station?" he asked.

"Gata'dr 1-3 and 1-4 are providing CAS, as is Basilisk Squadron," replied Blade.

"Leave Basilisk on station," he ordered. "Call the two Frigates back up."

Blade hesitated for a moment, "Yes sir."

**In orbit above Felucia**

Unbeknownst to the Republic forces, a small transport was entering the Felucian atmosphere, evading the already extremely taxed sensors of the both Republic and Separatist forces.

**Captain Ordo Skirata, Null-11**

"I'm only doing this as a _favor_ to General Skywalker, who's only doing this as _favor_ to your dad. You do as I say, you stay quiet unless it's something important, if there's shooting, you run and wait for me to come get you and you do not leave my sight. Understood?" Ordo asked the green armored Mandalorian as the both of the them left Republic Lines.

"Yes, mom."

"...Boba..."

"Yes, _Captain_. I promise I'll behave, but if you re-hash the same list Dad, Kal, Anakin, General Kenobi _and_ Admiral Kote recited to me, how can you expect me _not_ to give you a smart ass response?"

Ordo raised an eyebrow. "You know the drill, then."

"I do."

"And we're not going to have any problems?"

"Of course not."

"Alright, then. Let's go. Try to keep up."

"Keeping up." Before long, they had reached the start of a clearing, which was dominated by a prefabricated droid base. Nothing special. But, the CC – 9979 landing craft in landing in the center of the base and dropping of troops wasn't. "Back wall looks like a good entry point," said Boba.

"Now you're learning something" said Ordo looking at the aforementioned back wall.

"What's that?" asked Boba, not taking his eyes off the base.

"That you shut up until you have something useful to say," he replied. Boba scoffed, but said nothing more.

A three pronged attack on the front gate, left flank and back wall would leave the droids little room to run and two many fronts to defend against. With the A6 Juggernaut, they could level the base from this ridge, but the Jedi wanted to limit the damage to the surrounding jungle. Of course with the natives fighting alongside them, they would have to keep such concerns in mind.

"What's the matter Captain, something got you concerned?" asked Boba with faux concern.

"What did I say?" Ordo asked. Boba fell silent. He took one last look at the base before turning around "Come on, let's get back and give our report."

As they were making their way back Boba spoke again, "Who are the Jedi we're going in with?" he asked.

"Koon, Skywalker and his Padawan," replied Ordo, tired of reminding him. Besides, it was a semi-relevant question.

"The Togruta girl?" asked Boba, having not been off Kamino much. His father had been pushing his training hard, especially in the last couple months.

"Yes, that's her" said Ordo, answering absentmindedly. Not hearing a response Ordo probed further, "Why? You sweet on her?"

Boba stayed silent a moment, "She's a Jedi."

"That doesn't answer my question," said Ordo. "I asked you whether you liked her, not whether dating her was feasible. Where did you meet her anyways?"

"Been around with Dad a couple times, saw the two of them on the Admiral's ship once or twice," replied Boba.

Ordo could see the Republic tank formation ahead. "You talk to her?"

"No," came the simple response.

"Here's your chance," said Ordo, seeing the three Jedi ahead.

"Why am I telling you this?" asked Boba.

"I happen to know something about this kind of thing," said Ordo. "And I don't think your Dad approves or you would have said something to him. You should say something to her."

"It's not easy," said Boba.

"You would know," replied Ordo. Boba fell silent again. "That's what I thought. Besides, I'm only here to babysit you on the battlefield, not off it. I don't care about what you do on your time." As they neared the Jedi, Ordo saluted. "Generals, Commander."

"What's your assessment of the situation Captain?" asked General Koon.

"Three pronged assault on the front, left and rear walls," he said looking at Boba for a quick moment as he repeated his observation.

"Hmm, Skywalker will take the front. I will take the left and Ahsoka will take the rear. Any questions?" he asked. The moment of silence was his answer, "Very well, let us move." Plo Koon and Commander Wolffe disappeared in the thicket.

Tano turned toward her master, "Going through the front gate won't be easy."

"It'll be even tougher going over that wall," said Skywalker.

"Which is why Boba and I will accompany Commander Tano," interjected Ordo. "It was Boba who noticed that the back wall was a good entry point."

Skywalker nodded, "Of course. Good job, Boba."

"Thank you," replied Boba.

Tano began to walk off, "Come on you two, we've got a ways to go."

Ordo nodded and started after her. The private COM channel between he and Boba became active again, "You are the worst at this."

Ordo smiled underneath his helmet, "Any time."

"…I hate you."

**Boba Fett**

Damn it, damn it! He knew that he shouldn't have trusted Ordo with that. Of course he was going to use it against him like this. Of course he could actually talk to her now, but how did he manage to stare down hordes of battle droids but when it came to talking to girls there was this problem. It's because you haven't really seen any girls Boba, he reminded himself. Taun We, Zam and the other Cuy'val Dar don't count.

"Hold up," said Tano.

"What is it, droids?" asked the trooper leading the detachment.

"Droids don't have force signatures," reminded Ordo. The trooper shrugged.

"Probably just an animal," she replied. She waved them on, "Come on, we've gotta get to that wall."

"Stay alert men," ordered the trooper. "Let's move."

Before long they were at the wall, awaiting the signal to attack – a diversionary artillery barrage. "Skywalker, Ahsoka, are you in position?" asked General Koon over the COMs.

"We're in position," confirmed Tano.

The sound of blaster fire and lightsabers soon reached their ears and two troopers took out the sentries, "Alright everyone, let's get up this wall!" said Ahsoka as she drew both lightsabers to cover them. The troopers moved up the wall followed by Ordo but something was off.

"We're all clear," called Ordo from above.

That was when Boba heard it, the charging of a Trandoshan net gun. That was when he saw the Trando but before he could raise his blaster the lizard fired, not at him, but at Ahsoka. That sick shabuir. He jetted forward, "Look out!" he called to Tano. He impacted with her and the both of them were almost clear until they were both thrown into the wall. Ahsoka's pained cries reached his ears and though he was momentarily fine, the sound of a blaster going off in stun mode told him that it was all over for him too.

**Captain Ordo Skirata, Null-11**

Ordo turned when he heard Tano screaming. He looked down and saw a Trandoshan fire a stun shot at Boba who was on the floor in front of Tano. Ordo jumped down, firing his jump pack last minute. He delivered a vicious smack to the Trando's nose with his rifle stock, causing it to stagger back and drop its net gun. "Arrgh! Clone!" hissed the Trando.

"And don't you forget it," returned Ordo. The Trando growled and charged him, he sidestepped the attack and smacked the Trando on the back of its head. It growled and was about to charge him but instead it just laughed. Ordo was about to turn when he heard the telltale sound of a Trandoshan slaver net gun. "Oh you have to be-" he started. The net slammed into him, knocking him into the wall of the droid base. He was down, but not out, the shield had taken most of the blow. He drew his side arm and shot the net gun wielding Trando, but the other responded by stunning him with his blaster.

**Trandoshan**

The other rolled his Comrade over with his foot, dead. He walked over to Ordo and tried to pull off his helmet. No good, it was sealed. Stupid Clones. He tried the same with Boba. No luck. Stupid Mandalorians. With the help of a third Trandoshan he pulled off both Ordo and Boba's gauntlet attachments. With assistance the two of them smashed the external communicator antenna on both Ordo and Boba's armor before dragging the three of them off.

**General Anakin Skywalker**

"Outpost is secure Master Plo," he said from the mobile droid command unit. Master Plo nodded. He saw the Corporal that was with Ahsoka. "Good job Corporal," he said, but he didn't see Ahsoka anywhere. "Where's Commander Tano?" he asked.

"She was covering our flank while we scaled the wall," replied the Corporal. Oh no, not Ahsoka. But then where were Ordo and Boba? "What about Captain Ordo, or Boba?" he asked.

"Captain Ordo was with us when we scaled the wall sir," started the Corporal.

"Spread out, I want a perimeter search. Find them." Not only was Ahsoka missing, but so were Ordo and Boba. Now not only was he going to blame himself if he didn't find her, but two, not one angry Mandalorian was going to kill him, or worse. He dare not go back to Jango without his son. Oh force, he was so dead.

**Boba Fett**

"Ahsoka come in. Ahsoka, are you there?" asked a voice coming through the external speaker of a COM unit. He opened his eyes and the warning in his HUD told him that his had been destroyed. He looked up and saw a Trandoshan standing over him, looking down not at him but at someone else. Across from him, in a cell just like the one he was in, stirring awake was Ahsoka Tano.

"Looks like you won't be needing this," said the Trandoshan as he snapped Ahsoka's COM unit. It then walked off elsewhere.

"Looks like the both of you are awake," said a familiar voice. Looking at its source, he saw Ordo sitting very uncomfortable in the cage that was obviously too small for him.

"Oh Captain, am I glad to see you," breathed Ahsoka.

"Glad to be here," replied Ordo, sarcasm dripping.

"What do those Trandoshans want with us?" she asked.

"Hunt us down, for sport," he answered. Ahsoka looked at him with disbelief.

"Boba's right," said Ordo.

"Oh," said Ahsoka. "That makes me feel so much better. What's the plan?" she asked.

Ordo shrugged, "Wait for them to drop us off and find somewhere to hole up."

"What about cutting the cage open with our vibroblades?" asked Boba, knowing that his still worked.

"Makes too much noise," said Ordo, not even looking at him.

"But…" he started.

"But nothing."

"What do you suppose we do?" asked Boba, angry.

"Save your strength, we're all going to need it."

"How? How are you so calm at a time like this?" he demanded.

"Because there's nothing you, I or she can do about this current situation. So I suggest that we all calm down and wait," replied Ordo. "Things don't always go according to plan Boba, remember that." Ordo sighed, "Now shut up."

Boba kicked the cell wall in sheer annoyance at the helplessness of their situation. He removed his helmet and dropped it into his lap. "Ahsoka Tano," said Ahsoka.

"Boba Fett," he said. "I know who you are."

Ahsoka nodded. After a minute of silence, she spoke again, "Thank you."

"For what?" asked Boba.

"Trying to help me earlier," she said. "Sorry to drag you into this mess."

"I made my own decision," he said.

"Then, thank you, again," she said with a smile. Boba returned the smile, then looked away. It wasn't before long that the ship entered atmosphere. Boba shook himself alert.

"Get ready, stick together," said Ordo.

Boba relished the idea of getting some payback on these Trandoshan scum. He was going to say something when the floor of the cage fell away below him. He landed on his feet, dropping to one knee. He looked beside him and saw both Ahsoka and Ordo. "Move, now!" barked Ordo, grabbing the both by the arm and sprinting for the tree line. Ahsoka tripped, he slowed to pull her to her feet "You want to die? Keep moving!" barked Ordo. That was when Boba heard the sound of a repeating blaster firing at the other prisoners, but by that time they had made the tree line.

Ordo took them further in, and frankly he agreed. Hiding deeper in gave them more time to plan a counter attack. They kept moving but Ahsoka stopped, leaning on a branch. "I think we lost them."

"They're not going to come after us now," he said.

Ordo nodded, "Boba's right. We're not running to escape them, we're running to find a better place to plan a counter attack from."

Contacts flashed in Boba's HUD, "Ordo?" he asked.

Ordo spun around, "I see it too."

Just then three ragged looking children landed in front of them. Boba recognized who they were instantly, they were Jedi. "You need to come with us," said the lead Jedi, a human girl. Her companions were a blue skinned Twi'lek male and Cerean male.

"Who're you?" demanded Ahsoka.

The Jedi stopped short, "We used to be Jedi younglings." Before long the four Jedi and the two Mandalorians were on their way to the Jedi's makeshift living area in the hollow of a tree. While the Jedi were able to nimbly leap around the trees, Ordo and Boba had to use their grappling hooks.

"You're going to have to improve your technique if you want to impress your friend Boba," teased Ordo.

"You're going to have to move faster if you want to keep up," he said as he swung ahead of Ordo. He could almost see the foul look on Ordo's face but just avoided slamming into a tree. He quickly moved aside, and landed on the branch that led into the tree hollow.

"We never stood a chance, they attacked us on a training mission!" said the Twi'lek Jedi. Ordo looked at him, he knew what he was going to say too, 'Similar situation?'

"We were captured, and brought here," said the girl Jedi.

"Why attack Jedi younglings?" asked Ahsoka.

"Because Jedi Knights are too powerful," said the Twi'lek.

"Too important actually," replied Ordo. "Depending on the situation even a Jedi Master could be captured by these slavers. They don't need the heat that capturing a Knight or a Master would bring."

Ahsoka turned, "Surely someone will come for us, right?" asked Ahsoka.

"I don't plan on leaving enough of them alive for it to matter," said Ordo.

"That's some fancy talk coming from a clone," said the Twi'lek. "Especially one who managed to get himself captured."

Ordo took a step closer to the Twi'lek, "Other than dumb luck that's been on your side for this long, this Clone is the only thing standing between you and a bloody death. So I suggest you show a little _respect_. I have one kid to babysit, I don't need three Jedi younglings."

The Jedi girl sighed, "I'm Kalifa, this is Jinx and O-mer," she said pointing to the Twi'lek and then the Cerean.

"I'm Ahsoka," said Ahsoka, "This is Captain Ordo and Boba. We we're captured during the Battle of Felucia. I'm a Padawan learner. What's the situation here?"

"You better sit down," said Kalifa. Ordo leaned against the far wall while he crouched down next to Ahsoka. "We were taken by those foul lizards, to be hunted, for their amusement. Killed and mounted on their walls as trophies."

"We've been stuck here for more rotations than we can count," said the Cerean, O-mer. "No one has come for us, I doubt anyone is still looking."

"Chew on that Padawan…" started Jinx when Boba cut him off.

"Are you damsels? That you're sitting around her waiting to be rescued?" he asked, incredulous, standing to his feet.

"We have nothing to fight them with," said Kalifa.

"Then you make some weapons, or better yet, take theirs," he continued.

"The Trandoshans deactivate the blasters if we take them," said Jinx. "Why do you think none of us have them?"

"Because you're Jedi? You can never deactivate a blaster, just its power supply. You just have to know how to reactivate it. And if these lizards are as dumb as they look, that shouldn't be too hard."

"If it's so easy then how come now one's done it before?" asked O-mer.

"Because they've never captured a Mandalorian," said Ordo. "Good thinking Boba. Now, we take watches, the rest of us will get some sleep."

"I'll go first," volunteered Ahsoka. "I'm not feeling very sleepy anyway."

Boba nodded, "I volunteer as well."

Ordo turned toward the others, "The rest of us will get some rest." He turned his head slightly in Boba's direction, "Nar va be'sa'oa ibic laam."

Boba chuckled, "Vor'e."

Ahsoka gave the both of them a quizzical look, "What was all that about?"

Boba gestured for them to walk toward the entrance, "Ordo was just telling me to be careful." Ahsoka looked like she wasn't entirely convinced, but nodded. She walked over and sat on the branch, legs dangling.

"Your father is going to come looking," said Ahsoka. "So's Ordo's. Both your fathers love you very much."

"Finding us won't be easy," Boba admitted. Ahsoka nodded, and her face dropped. She looked at the jungle below.

Boba put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Like Ordo said, Ahsoka, it's not about whether someone will come or not, it's about fighting – to defend yourself…and the ones you care about." Ahsoka looked back up at him and smiled.

**General Anakin Skywalker**

Anakin watched Rex and Alpha walk back toward him, "General, we've been over the same area over a dozen times. There's no sign of Commander Tano, Captain Ordo or Boba Fett."

"Search again Rex," he replied.

"But we did find a dead Trandoshan, sir," Rex said.

Alpha nodded, "Took a blaster bolt between the eyes."

Anakin nodded, "Meaning that they didn't just disappear, and that they're very possibly still alive."

"No Togruta or human blood on the ground anywhere near there," reported Alpha. "So yes, for now." Alpha cleared his throat. "The grid scorch marks on the rear wall don't tell a good sign. Only one thing leaves a mark like that – Trandoshan slaver net guns."

"Why would they want to take Commander Tano or any of the others alive?" asked Rex.

"Your guess is as good as mine," replied Alpha.

Just then two BARC Speeders skidded to a halt just behind the ARC Trooper and the 501st Captain. Null ARC Lieutenants Mereel and Jaing jumped off. Mereel cleared his throat, "Found some scorch marks ahead of where we found that dead Trando. My guess is only kind of ship like that leaves those kind of marks is freighter, designed for atmospheric flight too."

"That's a start, we can narrow down what ship left the area," said Skywalker.

Jaing sighed, "We'd better hurry."

Mereel shrugged, "I'm sure Ordo'll be fine."

"It's not Ordo I'm worried about, if Kal'buir finds out, we'll have a dead Jedi on our hands," replied Jaing, looking up at him.

Anakin nodded, "Then let's get to it."

**Captain Ordo Skirata, Null-11**

"Alright rise and shine," barked Ordo. The three younglings got to their feet. "When did you say the hunt starts?" he asked Kalifa.

"Dawn," she replied.

Ordo looked at the sun, "Then we're already late."

"So we're just going to wait for them to come and then take their weapons?" asked Jinx.

Ordo nodded, "That's the idea."

"And then what?" asked O-mer.

"Then we secure transport," replied Ordo.

"Sounds simple enough, assuming you and Boba get the blasters working," replied Ahsoka stretching.

Boba smiled as he put his helmet on, "Just leave the blasters to us." Together they moved through the canopy listening for any signs of their pursuers. Just then indistinct blaster fire could be heard. "Listen…" said Boba, turning his head in the direction of the sound.

"Then the dumb lizards have already given their positions away," said Ordo. "Wait for them to close, and pull them in," he told Boba, raising his grappling hook to prove his point.

"Someone's coming," said Kalifa. The six of them crouched down, watching two others walk obliviously along the forest floor.

"Those two came in with us," said Ahsoka. "We have to help them."

Boba was silent for a moment, but when Ahsoka made to get up he put a hand on her shoulder. "They're already dead." Before she could protest the first caught a blaster bolt in his chest. The second ran, the high pitched staccato of blaster fire chasing her as she ran. As she began to leap up the branches she was hit by a bolt.

Ordo was studying the fire patterns, as well as the hunting platform that they were using. "They would try to follow our scent downwind of where we camped, correct?"

Kalifa nodded, "It's what they always do."

Ordo smiled and looked at Boba, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Ahsoka looked at them both, "What _are_ you thinking?"

Boba nodded, "I think our lizards have gotten used to their prey not fighting back."

Ordo thought for a moment, "Bait, we need bait."

"Why?" asked Kalifa.

"So they stop that platform," replied Ordo.

"But they'll only stop to shoot at one of us," replied O-mer.

"That's why we need bait, once they do stop to shoot, we jump them," he said. "The four of you split off and keep moving. When they stop, Boba and I will take them out."

"But…" protested Jinx.

"How much close quarters fighting have you done without a lightsaber?" asked Ordo. Jinx was silent. "And there's your answer. Now get moving."

Ahsoka stopped for a moment and looked at the both of them while the others moved on. "Don't worry, I've got your back," said Boba. Ahsoka smiled and moved on.

Ordo waited for a moment and then fired his grappling hook into a higher branch, "Come on." While he and Boba waited, Ordo decided to ask about last night. "So did you and Ahsoka talk?"

"Oh yeah, plenty," boasted Boba.

"Uh huh, what about?" he asked skeptically.

"Mando way of life, this war, why you're such a hard ass," Boba replied, listing off the topics of conversation.

"Ah…wait what?" asked Ordo, referring to the last one.

"Yeah, I told her that it's part of your whole tough guy routine in an attempt to get half as many girls as Mereel," replied Boba. "She laughed."

"Oh, at least that happened. See, what'd I tell you baby steps…" said Ordo.

"So you're not pissed about the joke?" asked Boba tentatively.

"I'll kick your shebs later," he replied. The sound of a hunting platform approaching, told them it was their cue.

"There they are," said a Trando. "The Togruta is mine!"

Ordo turned toward Boba, "No, wait…" too late. Boba had already jumped, landing on the Trando, delivering a vibroblade augmented punch to his skull, leaking green blood around the point of impact. Unfortunately, that was the pilot. "Kriffing di'kut," muttered Ordo as he jumped after him, punching the Trando next to Boba and pulling back on the stick, only to be punched in the face by the third.

Ordo recoiled backward, catching his balance just before he was thrown off the platform. The Trando snarled at him and while he was poised to deliver a punch to the Trando's snout, the platform hit a tree causing him to jerk and instead fire his grappling hook. The grapple fired into the Trando's mouth, punching through the back of its neck.

He turned to see Boba spill the last Trando's guts into the speeder, "Good job." Boba nodded and was about to say something when they both heard Ahsoka's voice, "Jump!" Instinctively they both dived off of the platform which hit a tree throwing the bodies and weapons out before careening into the ground and all but exploding.

Ordo got up and pulled Boba to his feet, "Quick! Grab their weapons!" both he and Boba grabbed the discarded Trando guns and with their Jedi companions made with haste away from the site of the speeder crash. Before long they were back at the hole in the tree that served as their base of operations. All three blasters were disassembled and lying on the ground in front of both Boba and him.

"This is never going to work," said Jinx, scoffing.

"I'll admit, I'm skeptical," said O-mer.

Boba started putting his blaster back together, "Udesii Jedi. What's that thing you tell each other? Trust in the force? Well now," he said after the blaster hummed to life "trust in the Mandos."

Ordo smiled and slapped the power cell back into his borrowed Sniper Rifle, "Oya."

O-mer's eyes widened, "I have to admit, that's impressive."

Ahsoka smiled, "Good job you two."

Jinx nodded, "Now who keeps the blasters?"

"We do," interjected Ordo. "The logical and obvious choice. We find any more and _then_ we start handing them out." Jinx reluctantly nodded. "Tomorrow we start looking for the Trando base. They're probably not expecting us to try and attack it."

"Who's on guard duty tonight?" asked Kalifa.

Ordo stood up and headed toward the exit, "I'll take tonight."

"Would you mind if I joined you Captain?" she asked.

Ordo shrugged, "I'm not the best company."

"So no?" she asked.

"No," he said sighing, "I don't mind." With that Ordo walked out onto the branch that led to their base of operations. He wondered why the Jedi girl was so intent on taking guard duty for the night. He settled down onto the branch and balanced his Sniper Rifle on his knee and scanned their immediate surroundings with his rifle.

"What's the plan here?" asked Kalifa. "Do you really think that we can take them?" she asked with a concerned look on her face. Ordo remained silent. "You don't…"

Ordo turned his head in her direction, "I _know_ we can't do this without losing _some_ of us. There's too many of them for that."

Kalifa nodded, "It's a miracle that we've survived so far. I know that the others don't show it, but I have no idea how much longer we'd have lasted without you."

"Try not to think about it," he said.

"Is that what they taught you?" she asked him.

"No," he said, looking back at the rifle. "I was always taught to kick shebs, alone or alongside my vode."

"But you're not too sure what to do with three Jedi younglings who don't even have their lightsabers," finished Kalifa.

"Correct," said Ordo.

"We'll do what we can," she said.

He turned quickly, "I don't doubt that. I'm not sure that it'll be enough."

Kalifa nodded. For a moment, neither of them spoke. "How'd the three of you get taken? You look like you can take care of yourselves."

"Ahsoka and Boba were ambushed. I was outnumbered when I tried to help them," he said. "Slotted one Trando between his eyes. His buddy got me," he finished.

"So the Republic knows who has us," said Kalifa.

"Live or die, I don't plan on…" he started.

"leaving enough of them alive for it to matter," finished Kalifa. "You said that before. And I know it's not very Jedi life, but I feel the same way."

"Only makes you normal," he said. "Unlike most of the Jedi, acting like they're something else." They were good, he would give them that. But they bled just like everyone else did.

Kalifa nodded, "So, what _is _the plan."

Ordo shrugged, "Plan hasn't changed. We find their base and kill every one of those lizard scum."

Kalifa simply nodded, the look on her face told Ordo that she was looking forward to some payback.

**Commander Blade**

"Blade, remember, keep this entire thing hush," said General Skywalker. This whole thing was crazy, how did the lizards even overpower all three of them. Skywalker had said that it was an ambush, but an ambush on all three of them? How many lizards were there?

Blade was about to answer when he heard another voice behind him, "Keep what entire thing hush, Skywalker?" he turned and saw Admiral Kote walking toward him.

Skywalker seemed to be hiding his annoyance extremely well. "Well, I was having Blade track a particular battalion of droids for me." Blade cringed, the hologram of the HCT-2001 Dragonboat Freighter displayed in front of him was visible from where the Admiral was standing. And he wasn't going to get on the Admiral's bad side for some Jedi.

The Admiral walked over, "I see a HCT-2001 Freighter here. Not seen in use by the droid army. The primary users of this ship however, are Trandoshans. Particularly slavers." He gave the hologram a look over before turning toward Skywalker "What aren't you saying?"

"Ahsoka's missing," said Skywalker sighing.

"Shab, why didn't you tell me? I can _help_. Damn it Anakin," he said massaging the bridge of his nose.

"Because…" started the Jedi.

"Because what?" he asked, looking back up at the holographic representation of the Jedi Knight.

"Because it's not just Ahsoka," admitted Skywalker.

"Who else is missing?" asked the Admiral, now wondering what else was going on here that even a Jedi Knight would be afraid of admitting.

"Captain Ordo Skirata and…" said Anakin, barely uttering the name.

"Ordo?" asked the Admiral, eyes widening. "This is not good. Kal's going to be livid. Who else?"

Skywalker looked like he was going to explode with all the conflicting emotions, probably between self-preservation and the need to help. "Boba."

"Boba!?" said Nyles, almost screaming. "How long since you've known?" he demanded.

"Little over a standard hour," said Skywalker. Blade knew this to be a lie. They had been searching already for twice that time.

Nyles looked incredulous, "I don't believe this! How?" He took a breath, calming himself. "Did you find anything in your search?"

"A dead Trandoshan, and scorch marks that bely an engine layout that matches that class of ship. Which you know is used by Trandoshan slavers," said Skywalker.

Nyles shook his head, "I've got calls to make, to two fathers. Try and stay calm, I know that you must be conflicted between your need to avoid the wrath of two soon to be livid Mandalorian fathers, and your need to ensure Ahsoka's safety. But right now? Her best chance is by calling the two aforementioned Mandalorians." Skywalker looked like he was about to argue, but fell silent once more. "Good, I'd better get to it then."

**Boba Fett**

"Boba, wake up." He opened his eyes and saw Ordo standing over him. "Come on, it's dawn. We have to move. Wake the others." Boba got to his feet, collecting his borrowed blaster rifle and shaking Ahsoka with his other hand.

"Ahsoka?" he said, voice gentle. He couldn't help but notice how peaceful she looked.

"Hmm?" she mumbled. "Morning already?"

"Yeah, uh…we should get going…" he said.

She sat up where she was sitting and stretched. "Lizards never give up, do they?"

"Not as long as they or us are alive," said Boba, standing to his feet. He looked over the blaster rifle in his hands, "I think it's time we changed that."

"Do the rest of us get a personal wake-up call too, or is it just Ahsoka?" called Jinx from behind them. Ahsoka blushed and Boba shot him a look, which consisted of a blank helmet staring right at him. The Mandalorian T-slit visor was intimidating, period.

Before long the four Jedi and two Mandalorians were down on the forest floor. "Alright, Boba and I will go and scout inland, while the four of you check the clearing towards the west of our base. It's not big enough, but they might have a small hunting outpost there. If not, then head back to base. Any concerns?"

None of the Jedi said anything for a whole minute. "Come back alive," said Ahsoka finally.

Ordo nodded and headed off. Boba turned to join him but then turned around for a quick moment, "You too Ahsoka."

Ordo and Boba kept walking through the forest, until Ordo stopped very suddenly. "Do you hear that?" he asked. "Sounds like repulsor lift engines."

"More of those hunting platforms?" asked Boba.

"I don't think so," said Ordo now continuing to walk on. They walked into an area where there was a small clearing in the canopy. "It sounds bigger."

"What could be worse than those platforms?" asked Boba, looking around.

"I really wish you hadn't said that," said Ordo. Boba noticed that he had stopped walking.

"Why's that?" asked Boba, turning around. Ordo was looking up at something.

"Because /that's/ a lot worse," he said, pointing up a gigantic flying fortress. Out of which several hunting platforms lifted off and headed in their direction.

"Well, at least we know where their base is," said Boba. He looked up and saw the speeders were now doubly closer. They weren't taking any chances, they definitely wanted them dead. The two speeders flew in and surrounded the two Mandalorians.

The lead Trandoshan, an older foul looking lizard, walked to the front of the pod. "Mandalorian, you and your clone pet have reached the end of the line." Neither Boba nor Ordo said anything, nor did they drop their weapons. "I must commend you, no one has managed to get our weapons working once we disabled them. I think that the two of you must've been looking for us. But we've found you, and you die now! Dar, take the shot."

The Trandoshan named Dar raised his rifle and pointed it at him, Boba knew that at this range and with the power of his rifle the bolt would go right through the transperisteel visor. He didn't close his eyes, he simply waited for the end to come. Suddenly the Trandoshan was lifted into the air, clutching his throat. Before he knew what was happening he felt himself being tackled into the undergrowth by Ordo.

From behind their cover they watched as the Trandoshan dropped out of the craft as the invisible force holding him suddenly let him go as blaster fire was sent it's way. 'Took the lizards that long,' thought Boba. "Find them! Dar the Jedi is yours! You two, find the Mandalorian and bring me his helmet!" called out the Trandoshan who had threatened them earlier.

Ordo pulled him aside as the Pteropter hunting platform streaked over their heads. Boba looked at Ordo, "We need to help them."

"No, we need to deal with our pursuers," he said.

"But they…" started Boba.

"But nothing, if we move to help them and the other speeder catches up, we're as good as dead," said Ordo.

Boba crossed his hands, "What's your brilliant plan then?" he asked.

"Simple," said Ordo.

Before long Boba was walking through the path in the forest, seemingly alone with his blaster rifle in his hand. At least that was how it would appear to any Trandoshans. In truth Ordo was perched up in the tree tops with his Blaster Sniper Rifle. "This is the worst plan he's ever had," said Boba to himself. He kept moving until the telltale sound of repulsor lift engines entered his ears. He hoped that Ordo wouldn't miss.

He turned at the sound and seeing the approaching speeder and dove behind a large tree trunk as blaster fire struck the position occupied by him moments ago. He stuck his blaster out and fired blindly at the speeder, earning cackling mocking laughter from the Trandoshans, that was stopped by the report of Ordo's rifle. The laughs turned to screams as the Pteropter thunked against the tree he was covering behind. The remaining Trandoshans got control of the speeder and unwilling to lose any more of their own to the hidden sniper, fled.

Boba popped out and fired at the passenger, the bolt struck him in the back causing the Trandoshan to drop out of the back of the speeder as it flew away from the scene. Regrettably he did not drop his weapon. Ordo lowered himself from his post using his grappling hook. Boba sighed, "I'll admit, I didn't think this was going to work."

"Sometimes you just need to have a little - " Ordo was cut off by a loud scream. Followed by threats of death and blaster fire. The scream was definitely Trandoshan and from the sounds of it, it was a death cry. The two of them looked at each other and moved on, hoping to join the others. "Guess I underestimated the Jedi," Ordo said. Boba gave a little nod and they kept running and eventually ascended to the mid-level of the canopy.

"There!" said Boba with his rangefinder down, noticing the two fleeing Jedi. "They're alive - "started Boba before a hail of blaster bolts tore through the forest and one hit Kalifa right in the back. Ahsoka dropped down, holding Kalifa. Even at this range he could tell that the latter's life signs were fading.

Boba was worried that Ahsoka was going to be hit by the bolts that were continually coming at them. "Ordo, we have to help," he started.

"No," said Ordo.

"No?" asked Boba, incredulously.

"No, we can do nothing at this point," came the Null ARCs reply.

"But she - " started Boba.

"Ahsoka will run if she knows what's good for her, but throwing your life away won't save hers," Ordo turned and began to head back in the direction of their base. "Come on."

They traveled in silence, "I should've have noticed the speeders coming, I should have done something. Her death is our hands!"

"Boba…" started Ordo.

"Don't Boba me! Don't tell me that we could have done nothing," he all but yelled at Ordo.

"We could have, we could have sacrificed our lives and delayed the inevitable! It's a shabla miracle that they've been alive this long! Kalifa knew that, and so should you. You can't save everyone Boba, it just doesn't work that way," barked Ordo. Boba knew that Ordo meant well, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it was his inability to act correctly that caused this. They had perfect shots on the speeder that would eventually kill Kalifa. They could have taken it out before the one sent after them came back.

He thought back to the battle of Felucia, if he had killed the Trando instead of trying to push Ahsoka out of the way, then they wouldn't be here right now. He vowed to himself that he would not make these mistakes again. From now on, he was going to do what he knew was right.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"And this is to tell me that the one time I need you to take a planet without any more naval reinforcements, you can't?" asked Jango as soon as he was displayed waist up from the hologram emitter. Nyles was silent, wondering what _exactly _to say to Jango. "So am I right? Or is this another one of your 'How are you doing?' calls?"

"It's about Boba…" said Nyles, looking down at the floor.

Jango's tone suddenly became serious, "What about Boba?" From showing no emotion, his face became a mixture of concern and anger. Concerned for Boba's safety, and pure hatred for anyone who would dare touch a hair on his head.

"There were three people who went MIA after the raid on the droid outpost. Boba was one of them," let out Nyles.

"The other two?" asked Jango, still remaining calm, somehow.

"Ordo and Ahsoka Tano," he said, swallowing.

"And you at least did found who were the hutuun di'kutla enough to try and take the three of them?" asked Jango, somewhat accusingly.

"The dead Trando with blaster bolt in his brain didn't leave much to imagination, nor did the HCT-2001 that took off a couple klicks away," he reported.

"I'm on my way. Tell me that you have an outbound vector on their ship," said Jango, putting his helmet on.

Nyles knew better than to tell him that the sensors were overloaded and that it's taking longer than it should, "Working on it."

"When I get there, I want to be looking at them," said Jango. "Skywalker still on the planet?" he asked.

"Yes 'Alor," came his reply.

"Good," was Jango's only response before the hologram faded and the line went dead. Nyles didn't want to be Skywalker right now.

**Boba Fett**

Boba turned his head to the right, the sound of something hurriedly moving through the foliage could be heard quite clearly. It wasn't exactly parallel with them, but Boba could tell it was not that far behind them. He stopped, dropping to one knee and lowering his range finder. He bet it was one of the arrogant Trandoshan hunters, storming through the forest, expecting no resistance. He was going to give the hutuun far more than he had bargained for.

The viewfinder displayed a magnified image of what he was looking at. It was Ahsoka, barely managing to outrun the Trandoshan hunters hot on her heels. Ordo had just realized that he had stopped following, and from where he stood on the branch that was a short jump away from the one Boba was currently on, he turned and waved him over "Boba, come on."

Boba sighted in, range was just about good enough, but he didn't trust the accuracy on the this Trando junk. Ordo followed his gaze to the branch he was aiming for. "I know what you're thinking…you're not going back." Boba gave Ordo one last look before firing his grappling hook. He flew through the forest, toward the Trando. Boba extended his vibroblade and he slashed at the Trandoshan, catching him by surprise. The Trando clutched his abdomen, green blood leaking over onto his hand. Boba disengaged the grapple and rolled, landing several feet away from the Trando.

He turned and snarled at Boba, dropping his rifle and drawing his hunting knife. It was huge, massive even and kind of frightening. He stalked towards the young Mandalorian, going for the kill. A blaster cough later and the Trandoshan fell, Boba shifting up from his crouch simultaneously, blaster smoking. Movement behind him caught his eye and he quickly turned around and snapped his rifle up. Only to realize it was Ahsoka. His surprise lasted a moment before he scooped up the dead Trandoshan's blaster and handed it to her, "We need to move."

As they ran, the sound of a Pteropter Hunting Platform could be heard. However the sound grew more faint the further they ran. After he slipped and nearly dropped during the last jump, Boba slowed and leaned against the trunk of a tree, taking a breath. He dropped down, coming into a sitting position. He leaned his head back, feeling his helmet clunk against the trunk.

"That's another time I have to thank you," said Ahsoka, leaning against the opposite tree, breathing hard.

Boba waved her off, "Like I said the first time, I made my own choice."

Ahsoka nodded, she looked up at him with a sad face "Kalifa's…"

"Dead," finished Boba. "I know."

"I can't believe it happened…" said Ahsoka, burying her face in her hands. "It shouldn't have been her." Boba couldn't agree more, it really should have been him. This was his fault, and there was nothing he could do make the situation better, except kill every one of those lizard scum. But he wasn't going to let her see that.

"It was bound to happen to any of us," he said. "We can't afford to mourn our dead until we've put every one of these lizards in the ground."

Ahsoka nodded, "I don't suppose you have any ideas."

"A few, but it can wait till we get back to base," he said. Ahsoka nodded again, standing to her feet and walking sullen toward the next branch. He put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey." She looked back at him. "It'll be alright."

Ahsoka gave him a weak smile, "Yeah," she said quickly as the both of them headed back for their base of operations. By the time they had made it back He could see Ordo leaning against the wall, helmet off. He gave Boba a tired look and shook his head, not saying anything more.

"You made it," said Jinx to Ahsoka. "We were starting to get a little worried about you."

"Where's Kalifa," asked O-mer.

"She…didn't make it," said Ahsoka, bowing her head.

"She's dead?" asked Jinx, bending to look at her face. "I can't believe it. She had been here longer than any of us and now..."

"We're all going to die here. It's only a matter of time…" said O-mer, slumping against the all with his head in his hands.

Ordo scoffed, "Only a matter of time? Only if you sit here and do nothing."

"What do you think happened out there today, we looked for their base and…" started Jinx.

"We found it, and now they're two more men down. I'd say that's pretty good odds," said Ordo, taking a step toward Jinx.

"We lost Kalifa," he said, staring straight at Ordo. "I'd say those aren't good odds."

"Kalifa knew it'd happen, she was fully ready for it to happen," said Ordo. "And if you let her death consume you, then her loss will be in vain."

Jinx kicked at the dust on the floor, "What's your great plan then, Captain."

Ahsoka frowned in thought, "You said that they release new prisoners on the beach every few days."

"Yeah," scoffed Jinx. "So?"

"I say we attack their dropship head on," repeated Ahsoka. "They'll never expect it."

Boba nodded, "I like the way you think."

O-mer sighed, "That's suicide."

Ordo nodded and pointed at Ahsoka, "No, it's brilliant. It's a freighter, meaning that the external access hatches will be easy to get into and there probably won't be much of a crew. We get in, kill the crew and fly off this rock."

Boba smiled, "I like this plan."

Ordo dropped his fist into an open palm, "It's settled then."

**Captain Ordo Skirata Null-11**

Ordo ducked behind a bit of foliage as the floodlights of the HCT-2001 Freighter pierced the thick fog around the island. It was a ways up, but it was descending quickly, they had three minutes, before it was time for them to act. He did a weapons check, Boba had the Trandoshan Heavy Carbine, Ahsoka the Trandoshan Blaster Rifle and he had the Sniper Rifle. Jinx and O-mer were unarmed, but the two Jedi younglings were unusually good at hand-to-hand combat. He didn't really know how good the close quarters combat skills of the average Jedi youngling was, but he assumed that it wasn't anything to write home about, especially considering home was Mandalore.

"Alright, Ahsoka and Boba will take the pilot. Jinx and O-mer will handle any resistance on the hull and I will take the gunner. If this all goes well, I will join the two of you and we'll all go home in one piece. If not, well…I don't think I need to say it." Everyone nodded once. Ordo could make out that the ship was in range. "Go, go now."

Ordo watched as the three Jedi jumped on top of the ship, with Boba pulling himself aboard with his grappling hook. He could see the gunner now, trying to find a way to position the gun to shoot at the Jedi. Ordo scoffed and pulled the trigger once. His rifle spat, and the Trandoshan gunner slumped forward in his seat.

That was when he noticed a Trando crouched over Jinx, Ordo didn't need to be able to see him to know that the Trando was probably crushing his windpipe. From this angle and with the ship moving wavering on its failing repulsors he couldn't get a decent shot. He fired a shot that hit the Trandoshan in the shoulder, causing it to yelp in pain.

That was all Jinx needed, he delivered a vicious punch to the Trando and then kicked out with both feet, sending it off the ship and onto the beach below. Ordo put a bolt into the Trandoshan's head, killing it for sure. It was all up to Boba and Ahsoka now, and from the way things were looking, it may not end well.

**Boba Fett**

Boba was about to shoot the Trandoshan that appeared from the hatch before the lizard in question was tackled by Jinx and O-mer. Ahsoka gave them a look to see if they were fine and then jumped in through the hatch on the roof. Boba joined her. She began walking toward the cockpit when he stopped her, "I'll take point," he whispered. Ahsoka gave a quick nod and let him step in front of her.

Boba raised his rifle and slowly stepped into the cockpit, the Trandoshan pilot had his back toward them. Something was wrong, he had definitely heard them enter, what had – suddenly the chair turned around to reveal the pilot wielding an ACP Array Gun. Boba began to pull back on the trigger, but he never got his shot off in time. The weapon discharged, the accelerated particles slammed into his chest plate, winding him. Pain burst out in his upper arm, causing him to send the shot wide, into the controls behind the pilot.

The controls sparked and Boba could feel the engine output dropping, but the pilot was still alive and that had to be remedied. He fired burst that sent the pilot back into the control yoke. The body sent the yoke to the left, which in turn sent the craft to the left. Ahsoka pushed the body out of the seat but had to step back from the sparking controls. It was then that Jinx appeared on the cockpit glass "Get out of there! Come on!"

"But the prisoners!" argued Ahsoka. "They'll die!"

"Hit the release, hurry!" called Jinx. Boba attached the carbine to his belt and grabbed the dead Trando's ACP gun as well as a few shells as Ahsoka searched for and hit the button. He aimed the weapon at the glass, prompting Jinx to step back, and fired. The glass shattered and after Ahsoka had hit the release switch the four of them jumped off of the doomed ship.

They all landed on their feet away from the ship which was now spinning out of control, cargo modules breaking off. The ship finally spun into the ground, kicking up an enormous amount of sand with it. "Well, I guess we won't be escaping on that ship," observed O-mer.

Ordo was walking up to them, "No, we won't. But we did cost them their only means off this rock."

Ahsoka gave O-mer a comforting look, "We'll find another way."

A growl interrupted them, prompting them all to look in its direction. "What was that?" asked Jinx.

"A survivor," said Ahsoka. "It could be one of the prisoners they were dropping off." They all walked closer.

Boba knew that people did unexpected things when they felt threatened, and from the sounds of things, this sounded like a Wookie. And he did not want to have to fight a Wookie. Just to be safe, he chucked Jinx his ACP Array gun, "Don't shoot yourself."

Jinx smiled, "Now you're speaking my language," he said, looking over the weapon. Boba shrugged and handed him the shells that he had taken. Jinx nodded and placed the shells on his person. The Survivor stood up to his full height, revealing itself to be indeed a Wookie.

"What's that?" asked O-mer.

"It's a Wookie," answered both he and Ahsoka at the same time. His was more of a plain statement, while Ahsoka said it with awe apparent in her voice. The

Wookie let out a roar as if to confirm it.

**Jango Fett**

"Nyles, change of plans. Kal found exactly where out lizard friends are hiding...Tell Skywalker he can keep breathing...for now..." said Jango over the COM to Nyles. Nyles looked relieved, and for good reason too.

"That's a relief. Just curious, how'd Kal find out?" asked Nyles. "Or don't I want to know?"

Jango looked over at Kal, "His gauntlets are a little more green now."

Nyles nodded, "In that case, Oya 'Alor." Jango nodded and cut the COMLINK.

Kal cursed, "Shabla lizard tal doesn't come off easily."

"I think it looks good buir," said A'den. "Good way of showing our scaly friends that we don't take kindly to kidnapping our vode or a Jedi." He slapped a power cell into his Westar M7, and then a magazine into the grenade launcher.

Kal scowled, "I have other ways of showing them," he said. "But I'm going to let Jango go first. It's only good manners."

Prudii nodded from the rear of the cockpit, "Time for some payback." With that Jango activated the hyperdrive, sending the ship toward its destination, full of heavily armed, armored and very angry Mandalorians.

**Captain Ordo Skirata N-11**

Ordo didn't know many Wookies, really he only knew Enacca. So, obviously he didn't speak Shryiwook. He just watched as the Wookie sat there around the fire with them. "So, your name is Chewbacca."

"Didn't you know a Wookie?" asked Boba, silently.

"Yeah. Doesn't mean I know Shryiwook," he said.

"So you don't speak Wookie?" asked the young Mandalorian as though it were unclear when he said it.

"No Boba, I don't," he said.

The Jedi were continuing their conversation with the Wookie, Chewbacca. "He thinks he can try to contact his home planet if we can find a way to transmit a signal."

"Well good luck with that," said Ordo. "The only ones with a long ranged transmitter are the Trandos, and they just lost the one on their ship. Our short ranged COMs are gone too."

The Wookie 'spoke' again. "He says that he should be able to build one from the wreckage."

"Well, we can't just sit here," said O-mer.

Ordo shrugged, "Suits me."

Boba made to stand up and grab his rifle when he clutched his arm, "Ah." Ordo turned and saw the blood dripping down his arm, slowly.

Ordo's eyes widened, "When the shab were you going to tell me about that?" Boba gave a one shoulder shrug.

"You're bleeding!" said Ahsoka, turning and looking at the young Mandalorian. "Is it bad?" she asked with concern apparent on her face.

"It's fine," said Boba through clenched teeth. "Pilot got me with a ACP Array Gun, plating took it, but it nicked my arm."

"And you noticed this now?" asked O-mer.

"Adrenaline," answered Ordo, pulling Boba's hand off of the wound. "That's not good. We're going to have to bandage that up. The four of you go on ahead, I'll stay with Boba and patch him up."

"Go ahead Ordo," said Ahsoka. "You're a better shot than I am. Plus, I'm a Jedi, I should be able to help with that."

Ordo looked at Boba, then at Ahsoka, "You're sure?"

Ahsoka smiled, "Positive."

"And the Wookie?" he asked. Chewbacca said something that for obvious reasons he didn't understand.

"He says watch his back," replied Fett.

"I said I'll be fine," said Boba before Ordo left. "You go help them," he told Ahsoka.

Ordo turned, "No, I won't have my second best shot compromised by this. You'll sit here and let Ahsoka attend to your wound. Da'ha ni du'car (Thank me later)."

**Boba Fett**

Boba scoffed, "Yeah." He shook his head.

As Ordo left Ahsoka turned toward him, "What'd Ordo say?" she asked with a smile.

"Nothing much, just Ordo being Ordo," he said.

"Uh huh?" said Ahsoka, with an eyebrow raised. "He seems to care for you."

"He's just following orders," said Boba. "He's not my biggest fan."

Ahsoka nodded, "Ordo and his brothers never seemed like the type to follow orders without thinking they made sense. I can sense…regret."

"Let's just say we weren't exactly childhood friends," replied Boba.

Ahsoka nodded slowly, "You know you're going to need to take the top half off for me to take a look at that."

Boba quickly nodded, "Right." He began undoing the plates. Unable to hold the chest plate with one hand Boba dropped it onto the floor with a thud. It landed right side up, the pockmarks created by the array gun visible. They had scratched the paint off and left the dull grey metal underneath visible. Something his dad said made him let out a small chuckle, 'Not a scratch on your armor Boba.' There went that.

He was glad that he took the shot, in those close quarters there was no way that Ahsoka would have been able to avoid the shot. He dropped the abdomen plate next, followed by the two shoulder pads and ones that went over the shoulders. He undid the body suit and pulled it off of his right arm all the way. "Is that fine?" he asked.

Ahsoka shook herself, "Uh, yes." She pulled out some cloth and applied to his arm after sitting him down. She began to apply pressure to the wound, he winced, but largely was doing a good job in hiding his pain.

"You ended up throwing yourself into the Nexus's mouth again. That's the third time now Boba, what is it with you?" she asked, looking at the cloth bandage.

Could he tell her? Could he tell her that he thought that she was a capable fighter, attractive? Would it even matter? She was a Jedi, they had that osik' la no attachments rule. Even if he did tell her, and she reciprocated those feelings, there was nothing that she could do about it. She would probably have to deal with the Jedi Council and their osik. It was not fair, but there was no use complaining like a child. He wasn't going to do this. So he did the only thing that he did know to do in this situation, he lied "I hate bullies." Ahsoka gave him a look. "It's that simple. It's the same reason Ordo and I get along famously."

Ahsoka frowned for a moment, and then sighed "Well…I'm a Jedi, Boba. You don't have to worry about me." Boba's face didn't change very much, if at all. Her being a Jedi was literally the only thing that made him uneasy. "He does care, you know that, right?"

Boba nodded, and he did agree. Ordo in his own way, did care. "Yeah."

**Captain Ordo Skirata N-11**

Ordo, Jinx, O-mer and the Wookie Chewbacca crouched near where the seemingly endless thick foliage ended at the start of the beach. He could see the crash ahead of them. Ordo turned toward Jinx, "Alright, you, O-mer and Chewbacca will head into the crash. You've got the ACP, you you'll take point Jinx. Chewbacca will bring up the rear."

Jinx nodded, "We'll be back as fast as we can." Ordo nodded, and waited for them to disappear before he jumped up onto another branch, pulling himself up. He settled into a crouch, and looked down the scope, following the two Jedi and Wookie with it.

Ordo could hear the sound of a Pteropter platform and watched as the Jedi and the Wookie took cover to avoid it's searchlight. Once the Pteropter had settled down, Ordo watched as it let out a Trandoshan with a Sniper Rifle. He was tempted to kill both Trandoshans and use the hunting platform themselves, but he knew that if the it failed to report back in, it would mean that the Trandoshans would be out in full force searching for them, at night. Not the best idea.

He waited for the Pteropter to fly away and then he decided to get down from his post and began making his way to where the Sniper had set up. He could see the Sniper looking down his scope, oblivious to his surroundings. He kept his rifle aimed at the Trandoshan's head and cleared his throat. The Trandoshan whirled around growling but instantly stopped and dropped his blaster when he saw Ordo's blaster leveled at his head. He gave the Trandoshan equivalent of a scowl.

"That's right," said Ordo. "Keep those ugly paws where I can see them." The Trandoshan placed his hands on his head. "Good. Now stand up, slowly." The Trandoshan growled at Ordo, but stood up. "Walk." The Trandoshan began walking down from the Sniper post it had set itself up in. Ordo walked it down onto the beach and then shoved it in the back with the butt of his rifle, "On your knees." The Trandoshan did as it was told, and dropped onto its knees with a muffled thud.

"We got the parts," proclaimed Jinx triumphantly, walking out from the crash with Chewbacca and O-mer.

Ordo nodded. "And I got a lizard. Grab his rifle," he said, nodding at where the Trando had discarded his rifle. O-mer disappeared in that direction. Chewbacca let out a low growl on seeing the Trandoshan. "Easy there," said Ordo, the Wookie certainly looked like it wanted to rip the Trando's arms off. "Find my something to tie this Trando up." Chewbacca began walking back to the ship.

Jinx turned toward him, "What are we going to do with him?" he asked, nodding at the Trando.

Ordo nodded, thinking for a moment, "You know, I figure it's time we got one of those fancy Pteropter hunting platforms."

Jinx's eyes widened, "And how do you plan on doing that?

"Lizard shebs here will do it for us," said Ordo, as if it was obvious. The Trandoshan looked like he was going to argue, but Ordo extended his vibroblade. "You really don't want to go there." Chewbacca came back from the ship with a piece of fiber cord cable, likely used to secure crates on the ship. Chewbacca began tying the Trandoshan's wrists together. Ordo looked at Chewbacca, "Alright, let's take this chaakar back to base."

Before long they were back at the base, Chewbacca threw the bound Trandoshan onto the floor. Boba instinctively moved back. Ahsoka gave them a look, "A prisoner?" Chewbacca answered her. "To call in one of their platforms? And then hijack it? That's actually a good plan." The Wookie spoke again. "Of course it was Ordo's idea. So we just wait till dawn and set out again?"

Ordo sat down next to Boba, "That's the idea. Except Chewbacca here, we're all armed. And no offense to everyone else, he's really the only one I'd like to have fighting without a weapon that isn't a bowcaster.

Boba smiled. "So it's settled then?" The others all nodded.

**Dawn**, **the next day**

Ordo looked straight at the Trandoshan kneeling in front of him, "Alright, call your friends. One word off, and you'll wish I shot you." The Trandoshan looked up at the Wookie behind him, then at the Jedi. "If you think the Jedi are going to think twice about letting Chewbacca here rip your arms off, then you're dumber than I thought."

The Trandoshan growled, but nodded. Ordo cut him loose. He walked out onto the beach and got on his wristcom "I need a speeder to pick me up." That was when the others moved into position. He and O-mer were waiting up in the trees with their Sniper Rifles, with Ahsoka, Boba, O-mer and Chewbacca waiting down in the bushes below. He turned toward O-mer, "I'll take the pilot. You take the prisoner." He expected O-mer to hesitate, but instead he nodded.

Before long a Pteropter speeder flew in and swiveled around, waiting for the Trandoshan to get in. Ordo leveled the sights on the rifle with the Trandoshan pilot's head and opened fire. The Bolt hit it right in the head, leaving the Speeder hovering right there. O-mer opened fire next, dropping the Trandoshan that they had taken prisoner. Ordo nodded, "Good job. Now let's pay our lizard hosts a visit."

Ordo and O-mer jumped down from their posts, walking toward the downed speeder which Boba had already climbed aboard. He noticed that Chewbacca was holding Boba's borrowed blaster. Ordo looked at Boba, who knew what he was going to ask about "I'm probably the best pilot you have. And I can do more good in this thing than with an injured hand and that blaster."

Ordo sighed, "True. Alright, this is it. Everyone get in." Ordo took up position next to Boba, resting his rifle on the railing in front of him. O-mer took up position on Boba's other side, while Chewbacca stood behind O-mer, and Ahsoka behind Ordo, with Jinx in the center. It was admittedly a tight fit. Chewbacca let everyone know of his opinion of the craft's interior space.

"I don't think they had Wookie's in mind when they designed this Chewie," said Ahsoka. Chewbacca let out a growl in acknowledgement. Ahsoka shrugged, obviously understanding what he had said, "I can call you Chewie, right?" The Wookie nodded.

Boba waved her off, "Won't matter if we don't make it out of this alive. Oh well, at least we're going out swinging." Boba took off, heading in the direction of the Trandoshan floating fortress. As they neared the landing pad of the relatively unguarded fortress Ordo could see two Trandoshans. "O-mer, take the one on the right." O-mer nodded and sighted down his rifle. "Steady," he said, waiting for the perfect moment. "Now!" both snipers spat and the bolts hit their targets in the head, dropping them onto the deck.

Boba flew over the deck, the speeder's rotary blaster cannons aimed at any would be attackers as it's passengers got out the back. The sounds of blaster fire however, had attracted the other Trandoshans who were now fast approaching their group. "Fire!" ordered Ordo as he dropped a Trandoshan with a shot from his rifle. The others did so as well, with Ahsoka and Chewbacca taking out two more.

He saw Boba flew overhead and take three out with the repeating blaster cannon of his speeder. He could see Boba nodding his head in appreciation. He began to smile under his helmet, until he saw blaster bolts streak out from the level above him. He turned and fired several shots at the offender but the damage was done. Boba's speeder was damaged and was coming in for a crash. It came down near The Jedi, forcing them to dive out of the way.

The speeder screeched as it skidded along the deck plating, ramming another speeder before hitting a second and toppling, pinning it's Mandalorian pilot under debris. No, not yet. This couldn't be happening. He had kept him alive this long. "Boba!" he called, making to stand up until he heard a blaster clicking behind him.

He looked and saw Trandoshans pointing their weapons at the three Jedi and Chewbacca, who were also on the floor. "A valiant effort Jedi! And you Mandalorians! You're the first to get my weapons working again! You will be a _prized_ trophy in my collection!" Just then, the sweetest sound in the galaxy drowned out all other sounds. It was the sound of a _Firespray-class _patrol ship.

The Trandoshans all looked up at the ship, some attempting to fire up at it, but they were quickly cut down as its doors opened to several armored and heavily armed Mandalorians. He recognized Kal'buir, Prudii and A'den. The three were then joined by none other than Jango Fett himself. They jumped off of the ramp, raining fire on the Trandoshans, giving him enough of a distraction to drive a vibroblade under the jaw of the one behind him.

He retrieved his fallen rifle, as he ran toward the crashed speeder he dropped to his knees, Boba wasn't really moving, his helmet had a small dent in it from where he had hit the deck plating. If the force was enough to dent a beskar helmet, then it was enough to knock his head a fair bit. "Boba!" he called.

He heard footfalls and turned to see Ahsoka and Jango Fett running towards him. He moved aside as Jango dropped down next to his son. "Boba," he said. He ran his hand over his son's helmet. "Boba, it's dad. Get up."

Boba groaned, "Dad? Not now, five more minutes."

Ordo turned around on hearing Kal'buir's voice, "I brought you a little present." There was a dull thud as a Trandoshan fell to the floor beside them. Ordo recognized it as the head of the group of Trandoshan scumbags. Jango got up and began walking toward the Trandoshan on the ground. He pulled the Trandoshan to his feet. He looked like Kal had been at him first. "I softened him up a little for you, 'Alor."

Jango nodded, then delivered a vicious much to Trandoshan's snout, knocking a few teeth out, "You lizard scum. You should have thought twice before taking _my _son. I would threaten to kill everyone you know, but I see both the Jedi, my boy and Kal's have already done that."

He dug his vibroblade into the Trandoshan's stomach, green blood spilling out. "You call yourselves hunters, but this isn't hunting. This is cowardly slaughter. Now you know what we do to cowards." he removed his fist and let the Trandoshan drop to the deck, still convulsing, green blood oozing.

Kal tossed him a rag which he caught and began cleaning the Trandoshan blood off of his hands. He turned toward Ordo, "Thank you. I know watching Boba can't have been easy." He then turned his head toward Ahsoka, "You too ad'ika."

Ahsoka smiled, "We kept each other alive."

Jango smiled, "I'll bet you did." He hit a button on his wristcom and Slave I came in for a landing, guided by its automatic pilot. No sooner than the ship touched down, did A'den run up the open ramp and fetch a gurney. A'den brought the gurney over to him, but Jango simply carried Boba back to Slave I in his own hands.

**Boba Fett**

Boba's head hurt, the only thing that he could remember was the speeder crash. He had a vague recollection of talking to his father, but he was sure that was a dream. His eyelids began to flutter as he attempted to open them and he could hear voices around him, "Ordo, he's awake!"

"Of course he is," said the voice that he knew belonged to Ordo. He opened his eyes and saw both Ahsoka Tano and Ordo Skirata standing over him. "Welcome back Boba."

"Why is it that your ugly face has to be the first thing I see when I get up?" asked Boba, frowning, voice gravelly after having just woken up.. Of course, he didn't say that he didn't mind seeing Ahsoka's face at all.

"Because I decided to wait for you to wake up," replied Ordo, with a smile. "Knocked your head there pretty bad."

"Yeah," he said, wincing as he remembered the crash, and the pain in his head.

"There's now a nice little dent in your helmet," said Ordo with a smile, but when he didn't see Boba smile, his smile faded. "You could have them get rid of it," offered Ordo.

"No," he said quickly. "Leave it there, it should remind me that I should have been better."

Ordo nodded, silent, while Ahsoka smiled "Jinx and O-mer came by earlier, they had to go and talk to the council so they left."

"Nice of them," said Boba. "They let the two of you off early?" he asked.

Ahsoka shrugged, "Just the usual burns, scrapes and bruises. Not much really."

Boba nodded in response, "That's good to hear." Just then his eyes went up to a figure in the doorway – his father.

Ordo snapped of a salute and then turned toward Ahsoka, "Come on, let's give them some privacy." Ahsoka flashed one last smile at him before she left with Ordo.

"Dad, sorry I got into this mess. I was just…" he started, trying to find the words.

"I know," he said, a warm smile plastered on his face. "Not your fault Boba. Sometimes when we care for people we do stupid things."

Boba sighed inwardly, he knew about him and Ahsoka, "So she told you about what happened?"

"Ordo told me about how you tried to push her out of the way, and I heard about your exploits from both Ordo and Ahsoka," continued his father.

"I suppose then I deserve this next lecture," said Boba.

"No Boba, I couldn't be more proud. You carried yourself like a Mandalorian, and you proved that you are indeed an adult. There'll be no one watching you next time," he said.

"And the thing with…" he started.

At that, Jango frowned, "We'll talk about that when you're feeling better."


	22. Chapter 22 - Water War

The Mandalorian Effect: Chapter 22 – Water War

**A/N: Before I start this chapter I want to bring to the attention of the reader, that this is the****_second_**__**Battle of Mon Calamari. Meaning that this would be the second time that the Quarren are attacking the Mon Calamari. Now someone tell me how the Republic and the Mon Calamari after fighting in not one extended water engagement would have made better equipment for fighting under water.**

**And the Mon Calamari are known manufacturers of not one but two amphibious ships. And their shipyards were both in space and some underwater. This means that ships built there would have to be able to traverse through the ocean to get to the surface and then into the atmosphere and finally into orbit.**

**So in short, how did these two factions lose to a war weary Quarren and Separatist reinforcements? Even after the Gungans arrived on scene to reinforce them? Because stupid Clone Wars devs overlooking things, that's why.**

**In any case, that was my little rant, but not to worry. On with the show.**

**Niner Skirata, RC-1309**

"Sarge, these SCUBA rigs make me itch," complained Fi. Niner sighed, in addition to listening to Fi whining about the SCUBA Trooper rigs that they were wearing in addition to having to listen to this worthless pretense of a negotiation was really bothering him. The only thing that had prevented him from falling asleep entirely was the fact that this negotiation seemed to be heating up.

"Unless you want to drown, I think you should keep your bucket on," said Niner with an exasperated sigh that was more than audible on the shared COMs.

"But Sarge, it isn't itching up here!" said Fi. There was a brief moment of silence before Niner responded.

"Keep that kind of osik off the COMs you di'kut," said Niner.

Darman moved to smack the back of his bucket, but it landed with much reduced impact than normal. "Hah! I suddenly love being underwater!" said Fi triumphantly.

"Can you di'kuts keep it together for once?" asked an extremely annoyed Fixer.

They were interrupted by Skywalker suddenly moving up to prevent Captain Gial Ackbar from attacking Rif Tamson. "Why are we even here," asked an annoyed Sev. "Why don't we let the Gihaal fight it out?"

Scorch chimed in, "And come in later to set up a cannery! Great idea Sev!"

"Can it you two! The Mon Calamari and Quarren are both capable ship builders. If we let the…" started Fixer until he was cut off by Boss.

"In short, it's not your decision to make," said the leader of Delta squad. Chatter between the members of both squads died down, allowing Niner to listen in on the debate going on. But this whole thing really confused him. The Quarren and Mon Calamari had fought before, and it made no sense that they were allowing the Separatists at the negotiation tables, considering the fact that the Separatist backed Quarren were defeated during the last Battle of Mon Calamari.

What gave Niner some peace was that the Mon Calamari were better equipped for war this time around. That meant that the GAR didn't have to virtually pull all of the weight against what was sure to be an army that was made up of mixed Quarren and Droid forces. Niner wasn't a politician, but any fool could tell that this was the work of the Separatists. Who the Quarren for some reason were listening to, even though they had lost the last fight against the Mon Calamari even with Separatist support.

"prince Lee Char will bring the planet to ruin! The boy has neither the experience, nor the knowledge to lead!" proclaimed the head Quarren. The Quarren had a point, if the Mon Calamari leader was inept, then they had no reason to take orders from him.

Senator Amidala swam over, "Please, we're here to arrive at a compromise. What can the Republic do to help keep the peace?" One option came to Niner's mind. They could certainly kick the Seppies shebs to tell him to poke his nose in someone else's business.

"This is a matter between the Quarren and the Mon Cala," started the lead Quarren until he was interrupted by another.

"Yeah! Who asked you?" accused the said Quarren. Niner sighed, this was getting nowhere.

Cries of "The Republic has no place here!" and "Down with the Republic!" reached his ears, making all eight Commandos brace themselves for a fight. Niner looked at Skywalker, who gave him an a concerned look back.

The lead Quarren continued, "We refuse to support the coronation of another Mon Cala king!" He turned his head in the Senator and Captain Akbar's direction slightly, "I'm sorry." He then turned toward Ambassador Tamson, "Ambassador."

Tamson looked nothing like an Ambassador, but more like a hired thug. Niner knew the type, and he really was looking for an excuse to shoot the Karkodon now. "It is my opinion, that the Quarren have no further business here." With that he swam toward the exit, the Quarren joining him.

"Come on Captain Ackbar," said Skywalker. "We have to contact Master Yoda and General Fett."

The Commandos, the Jedi, Senator and Mon Calamari began to swim to the surface where a CR-70 Diplomatic ship hovered low over the water. "You think we're going to see some action?" asked Fi.

"I think we're looking at a full scale conflict between the Mon Calamari and the Quarren," replied Niner.

Skywalker nodded, "Niner's right. This doesn't look good. Which is why the sooner we get to the ship, the better. Double time it Commandos."

"Yes sir!" came the reply from both squad leaders as the Commandos began swimming faster. Niner wasn't worried, the second the king was assassinated, the writing was on the wall. But this time, the Mon Calamari were ready, and so was the Republic. Niner watched as soon as they hit the surface, a ramp was lowered down from the CR-70 Consular Corvette.

Before long they were standing in front of the Holocom. Niner could see Admiral Kote, General Fett, Master Yoda and Master Windu. "And unavoidable, war is?" asked the green Jedi Grand Master.

"I'm afraid so, Master Yoda," replied Captain Ackbar.

General Fett nodded, "Well, it's a good thing that we've been ready for this for a long time then, isn't it?"

Ackbar looked down, "I had been hoping to avoid…"

General Fett cut him off, "But now you have no choice. Is the MC80 ready?"

"Yes, all systems are fully operational. The Shark-class Starfighters and Deep-water class Gunships are ready as well."

Nyles nodded, "The few Aquatic Terrain Armored Transports we have are ready as well, not to mention the OMS Devilfish personal subs."

Master Windu nodded, "Padawan Tano, Master Fisto and his men are waiting. They'll deploy alongside your Mon Calamari when the time comes Captain."

General Fett turned toward Ackbar, his visor meeting Ackbar's eyes, "They'll need you aboard that ship Captain."

"But what about the Mon Cala troops?" asked Ackbar.

"They can follow Skywalker," said the General after a moment of thought. "He's more than capable of leading them."

Ackbar nodded, "Very well then. I shall be on my way." Ackbar turned and headed off in the direction of the exit.

"That leave the matter of prince Lee Char's safety," said Windu.

Fett scoffed, "That's simple. Omega Squad, you're going to watch the prince. Delta will stay with Skywalker."

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

The Guardian was moving closer to the planet's surface. As close as was recommended for a warship larger than two kilometers that was. The plan was for his Neutralizer bombers to start dropping depth charges if it came to that. Or if needed, pre-emptively bomb the Quarren back to the stone age. But the problem was heavy droid Navy presence close to the other side of the planet that was moving in to engage them. And of course there was a matter of scanning the planet's oceans to find the damn Quarren in the planetary ocean.

"Sir, you need to see this," said Blade, calling him over to a crewman's terminal. Nyles turned and walked toward Blade and the crewman.

"What do you have for me Blade?" he asked, bending slightly to see what he was talking about.

"Trident Assault Droids," he said. "Concentrated here," he said, pointing to a portion of the planet. "That's where they're assembling."

"Let me guess? Enough AAA to take out a Venator?" joked Nyles.

"That wouldn't be too far off," said Blade. "And given the size of the Seppy fleet coming at us? We can't afford to divert."

Nyles gave a quick nod, "Well, they're just going to have to fight them the old fashioned way."

**Niner Skirata, RC-1309**

Niner looked around the Mon Calamari throne room. The Senator, Skywalker, Delta and his squad were standing by prince Lee Char's side. Ackbar and the Republic reinforcements were awaiting word to launch. The prince was convinced that the Quarren wouldn't attack. As demonstrated by what he was saying. "I know many of you agree with the Quarren, that I am too young to lead. But I believe that the Quarren will not attack. I believe that we can make peace!"

Just then the shared COM frequency crackled, "This is the _Guardian_, we're under attack by Separatist Naval forces. Heads up boys, I think you should be expecting visitors."

Skywalker cleared his throat, "Sorry to interrupt prince, but our Naval forces have just been engaged by the Separatists. That must mean that they're moving in to attack the city, now."

"Are you sure Master Skywalker?" asked the prince.

Sev called from the balcony, "Sir, sonar just lit up. And if that's not enough, look!" he said. Skywalker, the prince and he and his commando vode swam toward Delta squad's sniper. There, Niner could make out a large number of specs that were quickly resolving themselves to be a mixture of droids and Quarren troops.

"Well," said Fi. "That's a lot of droids." Niner noticed the Mon Calamari troops scrambling to get into position.

"How observant," quipped Scorch.

"Why thank you," said Fi, bowing slightly and then adding, "Di'kut."

"Keep it together you two!" barked Fixer.

"I must join my men!" said the prince as he swam to where his men were covering and firing on the approaching Quarren/droid forces.

"Omega, remember, we're going to keep the prince alive!" reminded Niner as he began swimming after prince Lee Char, with Darman, Atin and Fi in tow. With Fi serving as the rearguard, Fi began taking potshots at the approaching enemy forces who were within range now. The Mon Calamari soldiers ahead of them were now opening fire at the incoming enemies from the ridge of the top of some building.

One of them turned and saw the prince, "The prince!"

"The prince has come to fight alongside us!" said another.

Niner turned to the prince, "Your highness, it isn't safe here." Any decently skilled Quarren or a droid could take him out with a lucky, or well-placed shot.

"I must fight alongside my men," said prince Lee Char.

"Sir I - " started Niner before Skywalker and Delta's arrival interrupted him.

"You highness, the Sergeant's right. We need to get you to safe place before reinforcements can get here," Skywalker said. One of the Mon Calamari soldiers were hit in the chest, killing them instantly and sending them floating backward and up, bobbing right past the prince's face.

"This is horrible," said the prince.

"They're fighting to keep you safe your highness, if you die then their sacrifices will be for nothing!" said Skywalker. The Prince thought for a moment before grabbing the dead soldier's blaster.

"No, they need me to lead them. If I can't show that I am ready to lead, then the Quarren have already won," declared the prince. In some way he was right, but if the Quarren or the droids killed him, then that was still the case in many ways. It would show that the Republic could not protect him. But Niner had to give it to the prince, he had gett'se. "I need to get some men behind those droids," he concluded a moment later.

Skywalker nodded, "Delta and I will hold them here, you take the prince and some of his men and hit the droids from the rear. I've already contacted Master Fisto, but we need to hold out till he gets here." The Mon Calamari were holding, but the Quarren/droid forces were wearing their numbers down, slowly but surely. One of the Mon Calamari personal subs that were proving to be decisive in holding back the numbers of the Quarren was disintegrated by heavy fire from three of its Quarren counterparts.

Sev and Fi removed two of the riders before Scorch destroyed all three subs and with a concussion grenade. "Go!" said Boss. "We've got this!" as he raised his DC-17m. The new attachments were an underwater blaster and sniper attachment. Niner nodded as he swam after the prince and the three Mon Calamari troopers with him, the rest of Omega Squad following behind him. "You wanted action Fi," said Niner.

"Now you got it, di'kut," quipped Darman.

Fi was actually silent for once, Niner sighed. This was one time he was hoping that Fi would say something stupid so they could laugh it off. But no, the Commando stayed silent, the only sound that could be heard was the combined breathing of the entire squad.

**Mon Calamari Shipyards, Ocean Bed**

**Captain Ordo Skirata, Null-11**

Ordo looked around the gargantuan underwater hangar. Republic and Mon Calamari submersibles, amphibious craft and even a Mon Calamari MC80 Star Cruiser were housed in the giant bay. He could see _Aay'han_ parked near the Aquatic Terrain Armored Transports and behind those, Mon Calamari Amphibious Fighters and Deep-water Freighters. Ordo walked down the stairs from the catwalk he was standing on and began heading down.

He reached ground level and could see SCUBA Troopers milling around their Aquatic Terrain Armored Transports, as well as Mon Calamari pilots standing around their craft, while the gangways and gaunt construction cranes around the MC80 were just being withdrawn. The ship and it's weapons were complete, but they were given a last minute tuning to their collimator barrel array.

The Deep-waters were given Concussion Missile Launchers, including the _Aay'han_. Jaing and Mereel had their own Deep-water, much to Mereel's amusement. He could see Mereel and Jaing standing near General Fisto, Commander Monnk and Padawan Tano. "Ah Captain!" said Fisto as he saw him approach. "So nice of you to join us!"

Ordo gave him a polite nod, "General Fisto." He then turned to Ahsoka, "Commander Tano," nodding at her as well. He then joined Jaing, who was leaning on an ammunition crate. "So, if you're Mer'ika's gunner, who's mine?"

He suddenly felt a gauntlet thud against his shoulder plate, "That would be me _Ord'ika_!" Ordo didn't need to turn to see the black armored Mandalorian standing behind him.

"Vau," he spat. "Even without your Strill I can smell you a mile away." Mereel snickered, as did Ahsoka.

"Where is that bundle of joy anyway?" asked Mereel, still chuckling.

"Staying where it's dry," responded Vau, indifferent. Acting as if nothing had been said that he cared for. "So, we waiting for the Skywalker to say that everything's gone to hell?"

Ahsoka nodded, "Something like that." Fisto chuckled.

Almost as if on cue, Skywalker's voice crackled as his image was displayed on the Holocommunicator in front of them, "Master Fisto, now would be a very good time to come in shooting."

Vau dropped his fist into his open palm, "Good. Beats the Haran out of sitting down here. Come on Ord'ika."

Ordo sighed as he turned to follow Vau, "I really, really hate that man."

Ahsoka shook her head as she and Fisto headed for an Aquatic Terrain Armored Transport. "Good luck Ord'ika! Try not to kill each other!" called Mereel as he stepped into his Deep-water.

"I'll try not to kill _you_ after this," muttered Ordo under his breath. He walked over to the _Aay'han_ and stepped into the cockpit, sealing the hatch behind him. He sat down in his seat, with Vau sitting down next to him. "Try not to get us killed Vau," said Ordo as he started the ship's systems up. Everything was looking fine for now. Reactors, shields, weapons, propulsion all green.

"No promises," said Vau as he took a moment to familiarize himself with the controls. "Now, let's go kick some Gihaal shebs."

Ordo frowned as he was in the middle of the ignition process, "Try _not_ to kill our allies, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah, you just focus on steering this vessel, pilot," said Vau.

The voice of Captain Ackbar filtered in through his helmet speakers, "This is Captain Ackbar, all ships, we are clear. Begin the assault."

One by one the more nimble Amphibious Mon Calamari fighters took off and streaked out past the atmospheric containment shield, and into the water ahead. Once all the fighters were out, the Deep-water Freighters started taking off, Ordo joined them, pushing slightly on the repulsors power lever before pushing on forward on the one that controlled engine output.

The ship began to move forward, closer and closer to the atmospheric shield. "You did remember to seal the hatch, right?" asked Vau. Ordo didn't even dignify that with a response. Vau shrugged, "It's fine, it isn't like I have a reliance on drawing my oxygen through my nose or mouth."

_Aay'han_streaked out of the bay, behind it, 11 other modified Deep-water Freighters, including Mereel and Jaing's streaked out of the hangar bay. It was some while before they could see the city ahead of them. The Mon Calamari defenders, Omega and Delta were putting up one hell of a fight. "You can open fire whenever you feel like," said Ordo without turning to Vau.

"I've got this," said Vau. "Just focus on…" he started before Ordo cut him off.

"On piloting this vessel, I know," said Ordo. "I'll remind you that we saved your shebs in this thing." Vau didn't say anything, instead opening fire on the first row of Aqua droids and Quarren soldiers. The freighters behind them opened fire as well, tearing more of the Quarren/droid forces apart. Ordo could see three Quarren personal subs making a beeline for them. He opened fire with a concussion missile, blowing all three to pieces.

Mon Calamari fighters streaked all around, tearing through the formation, with the Deep-water class Freighters acting as mobile turrets. Positioning themselves in critical locations and firing on the Quarren and Aqua droids.

It wasn't before long that the enemy forces were in retreat, swimming away from the battle as fast as they could. That didn't stop the Republic from pursuing and wiping out the retreating droids until they were well out of the underwater capital. The Republic OMS Devilfish Subs veered off at the perimeter, turning around and returned to formations and patrol routes.

Ordo sighed, they were going to be back. The Second Battle of Mon Calamari had begun.

**Niner Skirata, RC-1309**

Niner and the rest of Omega swam through the tunnels, right behind Prince Lee Char. Niner could see the Mon Calamari soldiers from here, holding the line with only some difficulty. This was of course in no small part due to Delta Squad and the General's efforts. The Senator was a good shot, but the power of her weapon and the fact that she hadn't trained to fight underwater meant that she wasn't nearly as effective as the others.

The main droid/Quarren force wasn't pulling off their attack, it didn't matter how many droids died, they just kept coming. But Niner was used to this, it was how the droids and their allies fought. "The opening should be just ahead Sergeant!" said the prince.

"Roger that sir," said Niner. "Omega, prepare for contact!" he said as their group reached the opening. They stopped in an open courtyard of a building, but lacked much cover, but it was elevated and gave them a perfect flanking position on the droid forces. The Mon Calamari soldiers with the prince began opening fire and Omega Squad opened fire with Darman and Atin hurling detonators at the droids.

The grenades exploded in twin shockwaves, with waves spreading outward. The magnified forces crushed the chassis of the droids in the blast radius and just outside the blast radius. He and Fi followed up with a series of precision shots, Fi firing single shots and he firing three round bursts. The droids didn't know what hit them. A trio of Aqua Droids that turned to engage the flanking Republic group were cut down immediately by Lee Char, his three Mon Calamari escorts and Omega Squad.

This distraction was all the main group needed, they let loose on the Aqua Droids. The droids continued to fall, but kept coming at the main group. Niner was about to make a comment on their stupidity when a he heard a Fi's voice, "Incoming!" A Quarren mini sub was coming right at them. It opened fire, dropping one of the Mon Calamari immediately.

Fi removed the Quarren at the controls with a well-placed shot. The sub spiraled out of control, it's operator dead. "We've got inbound!" said Darman. Niner turned to see a group of advancing Aqua Droids. The group opened fire, dropping six of the incoming Aqua Droids, but they lost another of the Mon Calamari soldiers.

Niner checked the power level on his Deece, the cell was almost empty, only two shots left. He fired the last two bolts into an Aqua Droid and ejected the cell, slamming a new one home.

"Osik," said Fi, reloading his DC-17m.

"What, what is it?" asked Niner as he hurled a detonator at the droids.

"Sharkface is here, and he doesn't look too happy," said Fi, as he continued to open fire on droids. Niner could see the Separatist "ambassador" swimming toward them, and from what little Niner knew about water-dwelling predators, with hostile intent.

"Omega, the Kaminese say we're like the aiwha. Then let's show this chaakar just how the aiwha fight!" called Niner. Omega squad formed up around the prince and the last remaining Mon Calamari soldier. Riff Tamson swam past the first line of his Aqua Droids and toward the prince.

Fi fired first, the bolt streaking forward and hitting Tamson in the shoulder. Even the thick skin of the Karkarodons didn't protect him from the powerful DC-series blaster rifles. He was staggered back right as Darman and Niner put three bolts each into his side and upper abdomen respectively. He instantly recoiled and was almost considering turning around when another of Fi's shots hit him. This one hit his nose, taking the tip off.

Tamson looked quite comical with the tip of his nose missing. While he swam away in humiliation and defeat, his droid continued to advance, and the last Mon Calamari soldier had fallen. Niner saw a droid take a shot at the prince. He knew that without the prince this was all for nothing. He moved in, the plastoid plate held, but the impact point burned. The suit seal was still intact too. But Niner knew this was going to leave a mark.

"You fought off Riff Tamson," said the prince as he stared at them in bewilderment. "That is truly a great feat."

"Thank us later your majesty," said Niner as he returned fire. "For now, keep firing." The prince gave a quick nod and resumed firing with his spear blaster. The droids seemed not to care about the main group any longer, they seemed intent on killing the prince, at least that was how it appeared from Omega squad's position. They were going to have to go through them to get to the prince, and they seemed perfectly content with doing so.

Niner got on the COM to Boss, "Boss, we need a little help here." He quickly moved to the side to avoid another bolt.

"We're held up here Niner," said Boss. "Droids just keep coming! I don't know if we're going to be able to help."

"They're coming for the prince!" said Niner. "We can't hold them forever."

"Just hang tight, Republic reinforcements are close!" said Boss.

Niner had to move out of the way of another shot, "How close?" he asked. He received no answer. "Boss?"

It was then that a flurry of blue lasers came from somewhere and hit the Aqua Droids, the droids turned and saw something that made them ignore Omega and the prince and turn to face it, opening fire. But it didn't do them any good, they were all wiped out. Niner turned and saw an approaching Aquatic Terrain Armored Transport moving toward them. Next to the transport were two escorting OMS Devilfish subs and Delta Squad one side, and a four man team of SCUBA troopers on the other.

"Close enough," came Boss' voice over Niner's helmet COM. Niner shook his head.

"Took you long enough Boss," replied Niner shaking his head. "But we've got those tinnies on the run now."

"They'll be back," said Sev as he watched them leave. Niner nodded, he knew that this wasn't going to be that easy.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Separatist fleet isn't letting up!" said Blade as they just kept coming. The guns of the Republic Naval detachment were as usual continually firing. The Separatists had learned just how to beat the technologically advanced Republic Ships in combat, and it was the same way that they did so on the ground – overwhelm them with numbers. Their calculations were that the Republic guns would eventually start to overheat, and that the debris from their ships would overload their sensors.

This was fairly accurate, the guns targeting sensors were having a hard time keeping up, due to the literal debris field created by the Separatist Munificent Frigates that had attacked first. There was a mess of parts, damaged ships, leaking fuel tanks and reactors that were strewn all around the Republic Formation. The salvage teams were going to have a field day, but they had to win the battle before that.

This also prevented the Republic ships from launching their Starfighters, but it kept the enemy from doing so as well. But they could do with some bomber support now, especially since the main weapons on most of the ships weren't going to be able to fire.

They were only _now_ sending in their larger warships. Providence Carriers, Lucrehulk Battleships supported by large numbers of Recusant Destroyers.

"Weapon status, fleet wide," said Nyles, exasperated.

Blade looked at his terminal, it wasn't telling a pretty tale "Our Disruptor Batteries are down for the count, coolant's all vented. Ion Batteries still operational, but limited functioning. Missile targeting software can't deal with all the debris. Torpedo guidance is still online. Plasma Acceleration cannons offline, coils overheated and coolant valves are fused. Same story for the MPACs and Mass Drivers. They're being changed out, but not fast enough. Same story for the Liberty and Nebula class ships. We're in serious trouble sir."

Nyles didn't like this. They were sitting ducks, but this did leave him with one option. It wasn't the absence of power, it was the physical limitations of the guns. There was one weapon on the ship that they still had available to them – The fusion acceleration Turbolaser cannon. "Blade, tell all ships to form up, overlap shields. Shut down weapons, it's no use powering weapons that can't be fired. Charge the FATC."

Blade stared at him for a moment before nodding, "On it Admiral." Nyles watched as the Turbolasers and other weapons impacted against the shields, which held. Once the ships formed up, the combined field strength was more than enough to hold off the barrage coming at them. The angry red Turbolasers fired by the CIS ships splashed harmlessly against the shields projected by the Republic ships.

The bridge lighting dimmed as power was pulled from every non-essential source on the ship to charge the ships massive Fusion Accelerated Turbolaser Cannon as fast as was possible. However, it was still taking a little longer than Nyles was liking at the moment. "Blade, charge percentage?"

"Capacitors are at 40% charge and rising, steadily," replied the Clone as he turned to look at his console. Nyles quickly checked the combined shield strength displayed on his private console; 89 and dropping. More of the Separatist fleet moved in to open fire, taking advantage of the fact that the Republic Naval detachment wasn't firing.

Nyles could picture the look on the enemy commander's face, a smug look of pride. Pride of seemingly having one of the Republic's most successful Naval detachments beat. He was probably picturing the reward he was going to get, or the morale loss it would cause the troops on the planet below or to Republic forces in general. Nyles looked at the console again; 76%. Not good.

**_In orbit_**

However, unbeknownst to Republic forces, several Separatist C-9979 Landers made their way toward the planet's surface. The sensors of the Republic ships preoccupied with battle. Their cargo would turn the tide of the battle below, and for all their destructive power, the Republic ships would be powerless to stop them.

**Admiral Nyles Kote**

"Blade! Charge?" Nyles asked his XO. The combined shields were down to 59%. They were extremely outnumbered, at least 10:1 and they were not winning those odds in this state without the FATC. This was after they had destroyed a majority of the Separatist ships in the previous engagement.

"FATC charged!" reported Blade. "Firing!" The entire ship shook as the weapon that ran its entire length discharged. The brilliant blue beam crackled and shimmered as it flew streaked toward the Separatist fleet. It struck a Lucrehulk in the center and then blew outward in a pulse of energy that enveloped the Separatist ships. There was a massive flash of light and the bridge display automatically dimmed, the blast doors sliding down over the viewports a moment later.

There were no sounds, but Nyles knew that the enemy fleet was obliterated. There was no sound of the plates crunching and hissing as they were crushed by the force and melted from the heat. Nothing. It was all quiet. What was that phrase his Navy Flight Instructor had told him? Oh right. In space, no one can hear you scream.

"All targets destroyed sir," replied Blade after consulting his terminal. "All systems restarting, weapon systems coming online soon sir."

"ETA?" asked Nyles.

"One standard rotation," replied Blade with a long and pronounced sigh. "Communications are up however. As is the hyperdrive."

Nyles gave a quick nod, "Get me the Jedi, and then prepare to jump us to the system's edge." Damn Separatists had done a number on his ship, on his Naval detachment. The Republic was calling it a Battle group because of the number of kills it had. It was far from that. A Battle group according to standard Naval tactics was 75 ships, on average. He had less than half of that number.

But because of the number of credits poured into the prototypes, the expected the impossible, expected him to hold the line no matter the cost. Not only that, they expected him to do this consistently. Nyles hadn't come close to defeat as of yet, but this was as close he had come to beaten in a while.

A few moments later, both he and Blade were in front of the Holocom. "General Fisto, General Skywalker, Commander Tano," said Nyles with a polite nod.

"Admiral Kote," said Anakin with a concerned look on his face. "Please tell me your news isn't as bad as your tone implies."

"Worse," said Nyles. "The Guardian is crippled, as is the rest of the fleet. At least for the next standard rotation. We're going to jump to the system's edge, finish up repairs there. I'm sorry, but for now? You're on your own."

"Very well," said Fisto. "I will begin preparing our troops to hold the Capital." He saw out of view.

Anakin turned back toward Nyles, "I'm sure you did the best you could. At least you eliminated the Separatist fleet."

"I did, Anakin," said Nyles. "But things aren't looking good. If the Separatists come around to finish the job? They're very well going to be able to do it. That means you need to finish up their forces down on the planet."

"You can count on us Admiral!" said Ahsoka enthusiastically.

"I'll hold you to that," said Nyles. "Kote out."

**Captain Gial Ackbar**

Captain Ackbar was aboard the MC-80 Cruiser _Home One_, it was fresh off of the assembly line of new warships slated to join the currently nonexistent Mon Calamari Home Defense Fleet. While the Mon Calamari appreciated the Republic coming to their aid, they did need a defense fleet and prior to the Quarren attack and before that the assassination of the king, this ship was to be commissioned by the king himself.

But now, Ackbar himself sat in the command chair, the massive ship above the city, standing sentinel. Republic and Mon Calamari ships were holding position just outside the city, waiting for a Quarren attack. The Deep-Water class Freighters were holding key positions, acting as mobile turrets. Their Amphibious fighters squadrons were holding position near the freighters, ready to strike out against attacker.

He had wanted the Prince to stay aboard this ship, direct the battle from here, but he had refused. Instead, he said that he would stay at the front, with the troops. Ackbar didn't think that this was a good decision, but the Prince had given him an order. If he managed to stay alive however, he would have gained the respect of the Mon Calamari Military. Staying and fighting alongside the infantry, instead of leading from the safety of a command ship.

"Sensor contacts!" called one of his crewman. "They're big and giving off huge electrical readings Captain Ackbar."

"Electrical readings eh?" asked Ackbar. "Charge ion cannons, but tell all ships to hold the assault, let them close in."

"Yes sir!" said the crewman, relaying the orders to all of the ships, Republic and Mon Calamari. Ackbar watched as the infantry , Republic and Mon Calamari waited until the huge Hydroid Medusas were over them before opening fire. But the blaster bolts didn't do much at all to the large creatures. He waited until more of them showed themselves. But in the meanwhile the infantry was under heavy assault from confederate Aqua Droids while both Mon Calamari and Republic ships waited for the order to open fire.

**Niner Skirata, RC-1309**

"Dar, watch your 9," Niner called to his squad mate as the other Commando turned and fired, dropping both Aqua Droids trying to out flank the Commandos and the Prince. The Prince, using his knowledge of the city had led them to another position from which they could flank the droids. He had to hand it to the prince, for all his lack of combat experience, he made up for in shear tenacity.

This wasn't a particularly good position, but taking it as early as they did gave them a significant advantage against the droids. It was a courtyard of sorts that offered them moderate cover. Like he had said, not a particularly good position, but not a bad one by any stretch.

Niner could see the main Republic/Mon Calamari line ahead, they were managing to hold the Aqua Droids back, thanks in no small part to the flanking teams that the Prince had directed into various Mon Calamari structures. His thoughts were interrupted by Fi's call to cover him while he changed power cells over the squad COMs. Niner obliged by dropping two Aqua Droids closing on their position with a three round burst each.

That's when he saw the Hydroid Medusas take out an entire squad of Mon Calamari troops. "What the hell is Captain Ackbar playing at?" asked Darman. "Why the haran isn't he firing?"

Almost as if on cue, the order for all ships to hold fire was relayed to him on the command channel, "All squad leaders, hold your position. Let's wait for a couple more to show their ugly faces." It was right then that Niner saw three SCUBA Troopers meet their end at the hand of another Medusa.

"If we wait, there may be none of us left!" said Darman.

"I know Dar," said Niner. "But we have our orders, let's do what the Gihaal says, for now." Darman didn't voice his concern, but Niner could tell that he didn't like it.

**Boss, RC-1138**

Delta squad was holding position in the main line of troops against the Aqua droids, like Omega, Delta wasn't happy about losing the fire support that the All-Terrain Aquatic Transports provided because Ackbar thought it was a good idea to wait. But because of Fixer and himself, no one was really voicing their opinion beyond a single statement from Scorch.

But it was then that their perfect little situation started to go to haran in a hand basket. "Boss, we've got a problem," said Scorch.

"What's that Scorch?" asked Boss as he dropped an Aqua Droid.

"Shark face is back, and he's flanking around Omega sir," said Scorch.

"Scorch is right sir, droids moving in a classic pincer on Omega sir, I doubt they'll be able to do anything even if they find out," said Fixer in agreement.

"Tamson's going for the prince," concluded Boss. "Delta, we need to move. If the Seppies take the prince, this is all for nothing. Double time it!" Boss began swimming in the direction of Tamson's flanking force, removing any droids or Quarren that got in his way.

"Yes sir!" said Fixer. Fixer was always a bit of a yes man in Boss' eye, but he did keep the squad in line. As they rounded a corner, three Quarren attempted to ambush them. He and Fixer dropped them with a quick burst to the chest, while Sev stabbed it in the neck with a vibroblade, the SCUBA trooper rig not coming with a gauntlet one.

"Sixty-two," said Sev, as he extracted the knife.

"Slow day, psycho?" asked Scorch, turning his head to look at Sev.

"Still got more than you wise guy," replied Sev, as he sheathed his knife.

They moved on, reaching the location that Omega had been attacking the droid advance from they saw the bodies of the Mon Calamari soldiers who had been assigned to guard the prince, as well as several wrecked Aqua Droid chassis. A short distance away, Tamson and a squad of droids were advancing on a cornered Omega squad and Prince Lee Char.

Tamson was taking the time to gloat, and Boss could see two of Omega's four members were injured. Boss's helmet display gave him their numbers, and told him that their injuries weren't bad at all, but Boss had served with Omega long enough to know that the two injured were Atin and Darman . They were clutching their sides with one hand, the other holding their deeces.

"Alright Delta," Boss said. "Let's get to work."

**Walon Vau**

"What the hell is that Gihaal thinking?" asked Vau. "If we sit here and draw more of them in, we lose more men as well."

"Those are orders," said Ordo. "And since when do you care? You're just sour you haven't got to shoot something, Vau." Vau didn't say anything, instead he just grunted. Ordo scoffed in response. Watching the Troopers hold the line, Vau could see a smaller engagement taking place near a courtyard of sorts. He could make out the lighter flashes of the DC-17m, those were commandos.

One squad, was with the prince, shooting at the few droids that made it past the other who were fending off both the droids and Quarren. Vau used his helmet's macro binocular visor and saw a particular wounded Karkodon making his way toward the squad, taking his time as they had not noticed him.

Vau suddenly got up from his seat. "Where in Haran are you going?" asked Ordo.

Vau didn't say anything as he put his helmet on, picked up the harpoon gun next to his seat and walked over to the airlock. He turned as he entered the airlock, hitting the switch to shut the door so the airlock could depressurize. Once the indicator light had changed color, bathing the room in green lighting to signify that it was no longer pressurized, he hit the release button on the exterior door. The door opened with a muffled hiss and filled the airlock with water.

Vau swam out, using his legs to propel himself forward. On his way out he hit the switch on the door, causing it to shut behind him. It would then drain out and be ready for use again in a moment. Vau continued swimming until he could see the engagement in front of him. He was just in time, lucky even. Dumb luck, he had taught his boys to not rely on it, and here he was, relying on dumb luck to be here on time to save their lives.

While the Droids and Quarren attacking Delta were mostly all dead, the Karkodon commander moved toward the commandos, unseen, with obvious hostile intent. Vau aimed and a moment later, he fired. The harpoon flew forward, streaking through the water before it embedded itself in the head of the Karkodon. The result was an unearthly death cry that got the attention of Delta squad, who looked down to see the dead Karkodon, and the black armored Mandalorian who all four of them instantly recognized.

"Sarge!" came the voice of Boss in his earpiece. "Looks like you got here just in time sir! Didn't see that Gihaal coming."

"Relax," said Vau as he drew a knife and began to carve off the head. "You boys did fine." As the head began to come off he spoke again, "Besides, I got tired of sitting in that sub with Ordo."

Boss was about to speak when he was interrupted by a message from Ackbar, "All infantry, fall back. Repeat, fall back."

"Well," said Scorch. "Took him long enough."

"Can it, 62," said Fixer.

Vau let out a long sigh as he and Delta made for the fall back point.

**Captain Gial Ackbar**

"Fire!" ordered Ackbar. Ion bolts shot out from the turrets on the ship, sizzling as the streaked toward the Hydroid Medusa. When they impacted, there was almost nothing left of the Medusas as their implants shorted out and took much of the organic matter that remained with them. The charred beasts, once mighty began to drop to the ocean floor. There were cheers that rang our throughout the bridge.

Mon Calamari and Republic fighters, transports and submersibles began to engage the Droid army, who began to throw themselves at the Republic positions. But they were easily dispatched, and their numbers dwindled exponentially with each passing moment. The Quarren were in disarray, some fled and were cut down. Others surrendered.

Ackbar shook his head, such loss of life. For what? It was no secret the Separatists wanted to put an end to the Mon Calamari manufacturing capabilities. Doing so would put a dent in the production of the newer line of Republic warships, being manufactured as part of a huge joint effort. The poor Quarren, they were simply pawns in Dooku's game. But they would not regain trust so easily, and for a while, the Quarren will be treated like fugitives.

But none of this was really his concern. He wasn't a politician, he was a soldier. And the soldier's job in the second Battle of Mon Calamari was over.

**Oh, I realized I didn't do the sign off thing at the end of the last chapter. Oh well. Also, a big thanks to Anakyrie for putting up with the excruciatingly slow pace I sent her this chapter in. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, till next time…**


	23. Chapter 23

Notice

So you chaps may have noticed the messy removal and then re-uploading of chapters and the lack of much over the last couple months. Well, for those who don't know, I've decided to re-write Mandalorian Effect. It's hard to write if I don't know what you chaps think, so if you could go over and give the first chapter of the re-write a look it'd be great. Thanks.

I'm leaving this up because even I like to come back and read it from time to time. So, it's going to stay right here.

Re-write: s/12175450/1/Star-Wars-The-Mandalorian-Effect-Rewrite


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